Resolution
by snowtigerfire
Summary: Sequel to And the Sword. Takes place one year after the events of "Pitch Black", where the survivors have found a new home for themselves, only to be torn apart from each other.
1. The end is the beginning

Notes: Aw, okay, I took pity on those of you begging for the sequel and sat down to write it right away. I hope you enjoy it!  
  
This story takes place ten months after the events of "And the Sword". I highly, highly recommend you read it before reading this story, as I'm going to jump into the story without much introduction to the characters of "And the Sword," so please read it first! That said, this story will be rated R for language, because I just don't like having to "censor" myself. None of the characters from Pitch Black (Imam, Jack, Riddick) are mine but all the others are. Please, please review, as this is only my second fan fiction and I like to have feedback!  
  
Chapter 1  
  
She ran in the darkness, in the rain, her heart pounding. She could see nothing around her but an endless night. Pure terror ran through her body. She fumbled at her side, but she had nothing. Nothing to defend herself with. The mud pulled at her feet as she ran, something behind her. She could hear it. And she did not know where she was going.  
  
Pain lanced through her arm. She felt herself being pulled backwards, and looking down saw a gray, taloned hand grasping her forearm. She turned her head to see a creature behind her, pulling her towards its T-shaped head, talons cutting into her flesh.  
  
It stopped, and for a moment she only heard clicking and sonar as it looked at her. She could not move. The grip on her arm held her, and was joined by another on her other arm. She was caught as much by it as by her frozen body, paralyzed by fear.  
  
And now, I will die, she thought.  
  
The creature raised its head back and opened its mouth, exposing teeth. The head began to descend.  
  
She screamed.  
  
**  
  
Alex awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in the bed, her eyes darting about the small room illuminated by the light outside the window. Her entire body was covered in sweat and her heart hammered against the walls of her chest.  
  
A dream. Only a dream. She pushed the damp, tangled sheets off of her body and brought her hands up to her skull. She breathed in deeply, and ran her fingers through her short black hair. Swinging her legs over the bed, she slowed her breathing. She looked at the green numbers of the clock on her bedside table. A little after 3am. She brought her hands down to the edge of the bed and sat there a moment, looking around the room to get her mind onto something else.  
  
It was a small room, with very little in the way of personal possessions in it. Alex simply didn't have much. A closet unit for the little clothing she had contained little else but black military-style pants, loose black long-sleeved shirts, and her boots. A set of shelves held numerous electronic books, mostly on the history and technology of the last few hundred years. Alex was trying to catch up. On the opposite wall of her bed was her metal weapons rack. The sword lay in its leather sheath, resting on two brackets. The remainder of her knives were also in their appropriate places, all except for the one she kept on the table. There were two doors in the room. One, leading to the rest of the apartment, had three locks on it, all in their sockets every night. The second door she had put in herself. It was never locked. It led to Jack's bedroom, which itself had three locks on the door. Neither of them, especially Alex, was overly trusting of the surrounding neighborhood.  
  
The only light in the room filtered in through the shade covering the window. Even though they were ten floors up, enough light got through to faintly illuminate Alex's room. They were in the largest city on Moltai, in the Loku district. Moltai was one quarter desert, one quarter irrigated land, and one half cities, and an Earth-like atmosphere. Alex had chosen Moltai, after reviewing the planets, because it was a major hub, large enough to disappear into, form a life. The city they were in, Kanda, was larger than New York and Los Angeles put together. Or at least how she remembered them. Not that she was hiding from anyone, but that it had a lot of opportunity for someone like herself, not looking to attract a lot of attention. But it had its downsides. Street thieves were the least of the problems one could encounter in the alleys and streets of Loku.  
  
Loku had seemed the obvious choice, however, when they had first come there. Imam, Jack, and Alex, fresh off the transport ship, had all wanted somewhere where they could start over and not be asked any questions. Jack had never come out and said it, but as a runaway from who knows where she would probably have at least one person on her tail. Alex never pressed her about it, though. Not yet. So they lived in essential anonymity in a small apartment. Imam had left a few months ago, his yearning to be in a peaceful place overcoming his want to stay with them. He had seen that Alex was capable of taking care of a thirteen year old on her own, but had stayed out of what Alex thought was his purpose. But slowly she saw him dying on the inside in this cramped, dirty city. So she said he should go, and eventually he did. That was two months ago.  
  
A siren sounded somewhere distant in the city. Not in Loku, though. The law barely made their presence known in this district, preferring instead to root out petty burglars and white-collar crime in the upscale areas. It was the price they paid for secrecy, for the no questions asked. Often Alex wondered if this was what the inner cities had been like on old Earth, which sometimes faded to no more than sensations. But in a sense, the price they paid left them freer than in the expensive parts of the city. During the day, at least, they could move around in relative safety. A mass transport took Jack to school, every day she muttered about having to leave her knives at home. Jack had two, now. One that Alex had given her, and one that she had bought on the street. When Alex found out about that she had given Jack one hell of a lecture, but afterwards, started teaching her to use them to the best of her knowledge. While Jack was at school, Alex walked to the library and to the combat training facility in the next district over. She still had so much to learn about today.  
  
Her heart had finally stilled, her mind calmed. She brought her legs back up onto the bed and lay down again, staring at the ceiling, willing sleep to come to her. The nightmares had been less frequent, of late, but still left her shaking and terrified in her own bed. But she was not the only one who had nightmares. Just as she started drifting off to sleep she heard whimpering coming through the thin wall between her and Jack's room. After a minute, it came back again, louder. Alex sprang out of bed and pushed open the door.  
  
Jack's room was painted a dark blue in contrast to Alex's gray. Posters and drawings covered one wall, of various landscapes, or people. The computational unit took up one corner. Jack lay in the bed curled into a fetal position under her sheets, her cries getting louder in her sleep. The look upon her face was of unbridled fear.  
  
As she had done many times before, Alex sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. She put one gentle hand on Jack's shoulder and rubbed it. "Jack," she said softly, "wake up, it's okay."  
  
Jack's eyes flew open and she snapped her head around to see Alex in the soft light from her small lamp she left on all the time. Jack closed her eyes again and turned her body around, then sat up. Alex could see tears glistening on her cheeks as Jack rubbed her eyes. Jack moved over to grasp Alex in a little hug, which Alex returned, moving one hand to smooth Jack's short brown hair.  
  
"Was it real bad again?" Alex murmured. Jack's dreams came and went. They had woken her screaming for weeks after they arrived. It must have been the normalcy of their life, now, versus the harrowing experience that she had before.  
  
Jack nodded slowly, then pushed herself away to look into Alex's eyes with her tired brown ones. "I wish I could stop them. You don't have them anymore, do you? I wish I could be brave like that," she said sleepily.  
  
Alex smiled at her. "I still have them, too. Don't worry about it. We're safe." She put her hand to Jack's cheek in a gesture that her mother had done to her when she was a child. "Go back to sleep."  
  
At first Alex had been wary about taking care of a child. Unwilling, even. Yes, she had promised Carolyn that she would take care of them, but to have Jack living with her, she wasn't sure that it would work out. But the soft spot she had for Jack developed into a genuine fondness for the girl as she found herself comforting Jack after her nightmares and the day-to- day taking care of things. It was the last thing that she would have ever wanted when she set off on her trip on the Hunter-Grazner, but the intense experience she had on that planet had changed things. Changed her. She and Jack, and Imam, had become a little family in a way. Maternal instinct, she had thought once, but she knew that she had opened up to them. They were the only people that she had done that for.  
  
Jack lay back down on the bed and Alex pulled the sheets over her. "I'll see you in the morning," Alex said, pushing herself up off the bed. Jack smiled sleepily and closed her eyes. As Alex walked towards the connecting door, she paused to look back at her in the soft light, then smiled to herself and made her way back into her bedroom and fell asleep. For the first time in awhile, she was happy.  
  
That night the bar where Alex worked was especially busy. When they had moved into Loku, there was no way she could get any sort of a job correlating with her degree. Who would believe the dates on it? So she thanked her lucky stars that she still remembered a few tricks of the trade from before, when she had worked as a bartender during college. Josef, the owner, had told her it was a rough place, nowhere for a woman. She had just raised an eyebrow and told him she could take care of herself. He had been skeptical, but it took a demonstration with her sword and knives to let him to give her a chance. The one disadvantage was that she had to leave her sword in the locker, and her knives couldn't be visible. Which was all right, as the two in her boots were never seen by the clientele, and the ones at her back and wrist weren't visible anyways. Josef openly wore a stunner, as did Ty, the bouncer. Moltai law didn't ask questions or require weapon registration of those in Loku district. It had taken a few months for her to gain a reputation of being dangerous in her own right, and most of the regulars no longer tried jumping her in the streets after work.  
  
Tonight it was a slightly rowdy crowd at the Black Orchid, and she was hard- pressed to get their drinks out on time.  
  
"Heya sweets," a middle-aged man slurred from the other end of the bar, "howzabout gettin' me my drink and then spendin' some time out back?!"  
  
Alex sighed. This was by far not the first proposition she'd received from the assholes that frequented the Orchid. She went over to him and leaned over the bar slightly, an innocent smile on her lips. The guy neglected to notice the green fire in her eyes. Two of the regulars on his right, grins on their faces, backed away a little bit.  
  
"You see him?" she asked, pointing to Ty at the entrance. As the man turned, she continued, "He's got a stunner that he'll use if you try anything." He turned back to her, she was still smiling. She suddenly reached across the bar and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him down so his face was pressed against the bar's surface, her smile gone. "And me? Well I've got a few more things that I will use, if you ask me for anything but a drink again," she said, her voice icy. She threw him back from the bar and he overbalanced on his stool, falling to the ground. The regulars around him burst out in loud guffaws, at the fool who'd tried to get some from her. It'd taken awhile before they had learned, too, but now they just steered clear of her.  
  
"Alex, another over here!" someone called at the opposite end of the bar. As she got him another, she erased the look of disgust from her face so she'd put on a good face for the next customer. After the first few "incidents" like that, Josef had looked on, frowning, until the incidents for the most part stopped. He understood that it was a rough place, and that she had to be rough.  
  
Normally she was able to check out anyone who came through the door, to see what kind of a threat they posed, but tonight she was too busy to do that. All sorts of characters came through the door, not quite the scum of the city, but close. While she worked the bar she was unable to see a big man, broad across the shoulders, walk into the bar and take a seat in the darkest corner alone. He sat with his back in the corner, and scanned the crowd through the sunglasses he wore. When the floor waiter came by, he ordered a drink and the waiter nervously brought it to him. He downed it in one go and set the glass down, and then sat there, exuding an air of danger and silently glaring at anyone who attempted to engage him in conversation. He seemed to glance at the bartender more than anything else, and stayed until shortly before they closed.  
  
Alex breathed a sigh of relief that they were closed to closing. As she cleaned the glasses under the bar, she watched the patrons go out the door, some stumbling and leaning on their friends for support. Feeling her pockets and remembering what the cash drawer had looked like, she knew it had been a good night. As she glanced up at the door again she saw the receding back of a large guy exiting into the darkness. He seemed familiar, somehow. She shook her head. Probably somebody who came in a lot, that's all.  
  
Josef bid her goodbye and Ty locked the doors behind her as she left for the night, her vest pockets discretely full of her cash-out. She stepped into a dark shadow for a second and belted on her sword, finally feeling comfortable now that it lay at her hip. Alex scanned the street around her. Good, mostly empty. That made it easier for her to get home, instead of skulking from the shadows if the streets were crowded. Jack would hopefully be asleep by now, but Alex had a sneaking suspicion she stayed up late playing on the computer unit until she got home. It was a Friday night, after all, she could have a few lapses now and then.  
  
She was about halfway home when she heard the soft noise of footsteps behind her. She tensed, but kept walking, trying to listen and see how many. She was able to puzzle out about six, all of them walking surely to avoid detection. Bastards! The flame flared to life in her minds eye, her anger feeding it until she was coldly able to analyze the situation. She would not run. Not and lead them to where she and Jack lived in relative peace. These idiots never learned, not even after the first few fights she had with the locals. Those fights had steeled her, given her real hand-to- hand experience. The first one was almost disastrous but she had gotten better since then.  
  
She ducked into a side street and turned around, her hand on her sword. Six men came around the corner. As one of them passed through a beam of light, she saw it was the middle-aged shithead from the bar, probably out to get his revenge. Only thing that worried Alex was that he looked stone sober. Only a little worried, though. Most of the louts on this planet thought a fight was seeing who could punch the other into insensibility.  
  
"Hiya boys," she said drily, crouched, her entire body ready.  
  
"Hiya sweets," the guy said, an enormous smile on his face, like the cat who has caught a mouse. Well she was no mouse, and they were about to find out. His smile faded. "Nobody, nobody refuses me, embarrasses me like that an' gets away with it." He was angry. Good. They were easier when they were angry.  
  
"Well looks like I did, asshole," Alex said, her mind totally clear and already judging what moves she would make. The sword almost vibrated in her hand. Not yet, she thought, not yet. It was a last resort, she didn't want to kill.  
  
His face contorted with fury, and he rushed towards her. Alex neatly sidestepped his advance, and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling on the concrete. Instantly she saw the rest of them tense. They hadn't expected this. She managed to make her face into a mask of scorn, and watched them as they moved into a circle around her. Number one, a bearded guy looking to be in his thirties, dashed at her. She faced him head on, and ducked the punch he threw, then hit him in the side with her closed fist. He gasped in pain, but she had already moved to the side of him to kick his legs out from underneath him. Two down. She hopped back into a figher's crouch. Number two was more wary, approaching her slowly, sizing her up and down.  
  
"Ain't gonna be nothin' left of you when I'm done, honey," he sneered.  
  
She was silent, but her eyes blazed at him. She fed the anger into the flame, it was dangerous to feel too much when facing an opponent. He surprised her by jump kicking at her face, but she was able to block it with her arm, then grabbed the leg as it was still outstretched and gave him a hard front kick to his groin. He screamed like a little girl. Men.  
  
Number three had managed to circle behind her and grabbed her from behind. A momentary panic flashed through her, then she bent at the waist and threw him to the ground. She immediately moved away from him and faced number four, who had pulled out a knife. Oh, stupid man. He dove at her midsection with it, and as she swerved to avoid it she slapped his hand away, then did a crescent kick which almost caught his hand, but he moved away quickly. Probably wasn't as intoxicated as his friends. She jumped back, avoiding the knife. He came towards her again, and this time she spun close to him, out of the range of the knife, while grabbing his wrist. She clamped down on the pressure point, hard, and his face went white as he dropped the knife. He pulled a knife on her and that just pissed her off, so she brought both hands up to slap the sides of his head, stunning him, and then she kicked him in the chest, causing him to double over.  
  
Number five was the only one left standing, at the moment, and she saw him glancing at his companions. She smiled at him, it didn't reach her eyes. He swallowed, then faced off with her. He made like he was going to rush at her, but instead his hand went behind him to his back. Alarm bells went off in Alex's head, and she swiftly spun to the side. Her quick thinking got her away from him in time, he pulled out a gun and pointed it to where she had been, and hesitated for a split second, which was all she needed. One kick to his hand knocked the gun out of it, and she spun on one knee to knock his legs out from under him.  
  
Her attention had been on the stunner-carrying fifth man, not on the original man who had slowly been getting up from the sidewalk. He had come up behind her and kicked into the back of her knee, knocking her to the ground. Thinking quickly, she somersaulted to get away from him and then flipped up back on her feet. He snarled at her, half of his face in the shadows of the sidestreet.  
  
"Bitch," he growled, and lunged at her. Time to finish this, Alex thought to herself. She moved in closer to him and hit him four times in rapid succession, then ducked out of his enclosing arms and hit him in the side, hard. She could almost feel the ribs breaking. Skipping away, she decided she had enough and drew her sword. She held it in front of her, shiny in the light. That certainly brought him up short.  
  
Foolishly, he tried lunging at her, each time stopped by the swordpoint coming dangerously close to his throat. She only wanted to frighten him off, so she kept it under the utmost control. He made the mistake of giving himself away when she saw the glint of a knife in his hand, ready to throw. She scowled, and as he brought his hand up she moved towards him, making a very shallow cut down his leg, then with her other free hand slapped the knife out of his hand, and ending with her sword blade at his throat, resting on the skin. He stopped moving.  
  
"Leave. Now. Don't fucking bother me again or I'll finish it," she said, finally letting her anger get some sort of a hold on her. His face's expression had quickly turned from one of anger to that of fear, and he looked at her with wide eyes for a second. She lifted the blade two inches away and he turned, running down the street.  
  
She turned around to see his companions still down on the sidewalk, moaning in pain. Suddenly she heard a rustling behind her, and snapped her head and sword around to see a figure coming out of the shadows of the street. She dropped her confident expression to replace it with one of bare surprise.  
  
"It's you!" 


	2. Strangers in the Dark

Chapter 2  
  
Silver eyes gleamed at Alex from his face. She backed away instinctually, letting out her breath in a low hiss, but lowered the point of her sword so that it was at her side. No need to antagonize him, whatever he was here for. Managing to bring her face back into some neutral expression, closing her wide-open mouth, she cursed herself for letting her appearance slip like that.  
  
Richard B. Riddick was the last person she expected to see that night. She'd had no word from him since they parted ways, and neither, to her knowledge, had Imam once he had gotten to New Mecca. Not that she really expected him to contact either of them. He had piloted the emergency skiff into the shipping lanes, and they had been picked up by an enormous freighter transport going to the space station. Riddick had left the rest of them alone, for the most part, but occasionally she had run across him, looking pensively into nothingness. What he was thinking about she could only guess. But she knew that for herself, almost everything had been changed within the endless night.  
  
"Looks like you had fun," were the first words out of his mouth. He sounded amused. Amused could either be friendly, or fucking dangerous, coming from him. Was there the hint of a smile on his face? She couldn't tell.  
  
Alex took one more moment to control her breathing, her heart still racing from her encounter with the six men, and racing still at the surprise of seeing Riddick. In the dim lighting of the street she couldn't see the expression on his face very well, just the eyes, which bore holes into her. What in the name of all that's fucking holy did he want? If he was trying to scare her, she wasn't going to have it. She met his eyes with her own.  
  
"Yeah well, cheap thrills," she said, still startled enough to fail miserably when she tried grasping at a witty retort. "What the hell are you doing here?!" she blurted out, her curiosity getting the better of her, still unsettled.  
  
His eyes flickered to the men on the pavement, who were starting to get up, holding their sides, but glancing evilly in their direction. "Looks like your friends still want to play," he rumbled, causing her to whirl around. They could quite possibly slink off and return with more friends, more than she could handle. Anger flared in her again at the presumption of them, thinking she was some easy meat they could corner with six people. She took a deep breath in, considering. She had to get out of there, but didn't want to lead Riddick any closer to where she and Jack lived before she could read what his intentions were. Letting out the breath, she reached a decision.  
  
"Fuck. Fine. Let's get out of here," she said reluctantly.  
  
Riddick made a motion with his hand indicating she should go first. "After you," he said, still amused.  
  
He was either joking or he didn't know her very well. "Right," she said sarcastically, "How stupid do you think I am?" In response he raised his eyebrows and moved his head in acquiescence, then turned and walked out of the street, away from the five men who were getting up, as he was walking away taking a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on.  
  
She cursed under her breath as she walked quickly to catch up to him. She wasn't really sure that he would consent to walking in front of her with the sword in her hand, but damned if she was going to let him walk behind her.  
  
The streets were empty, this time of night, the only ones out were street toughs and anything that was more dangerous than them. Riddick, walking in front of Alex, strolled along nonchalantly in black loose-fitting pants, boots, and a gray slim-fitting jacket. Standard plain spacer wear. She'd seen many people dressed like that up on the space station. He still had the same air of readiness, dangerous at a moments notice. Where had he been to be dressing like a spacer? A thousand questions ran through her mind, along with the nervous energy coursing through her. To think that she, Alex Bennet, had Riddick walking in front of her essentially at swordpoint was almost laughable. You must have impressed him, the thought came to her. Interesting. Actually she was fairly surprised that he hadn't made a move to intimidate her yet. But why was he there? It must have taken a fair bit of effort to track her down, and he must have been watching her for a little while, at least, to approach her just as she had finished the street fight.  
  
They walked for about four blocks, until she looked back to make sure that they weren't being followed. No one was around them except a bunch of kids down the street, who she'd seen before, and knew to stay clear of her. They were coming up on another side street, this one well-lighted, so she decided it was time to find out just what Riddick wanted.  
  
"Down this one," she said, following him as he turned into it.  
  
He walked a little further down the alley, and stopped, turning around. His still-shaven head bore one scar, on the left side, that she dimly remembered as bleeding on the night they escaped from the planet. Alex stopped five feet away from him. Never hurt to be too suspicious. It's what had kept her alive the first few months in Loku.  
  
"Now, what the hell do you want? I'm guessing it's not exactly a personal call," she said, looking into his sunglasses again. There would be no reason for a "personal call," as she put it, if he hadn't contacted them in almost a year since they parted ways. And he must want something. He wasn't the kind of man to do anything for someone else before getting something in return. Or so she thought.  
  
He stared back at her, his face still seeming amused. "Not exactly," he finally said. "I need somewhere to stay for a few days." He drawled it out, the same tone he had used when he was tied up in chains in the hold of a ship. It seemed so long ago.  
  
Alex's eyebrows raised. Of all people, of all places-to ask for a place to stay? She almost sputtered with indignation, ready to refuse him. And then she remembered her promise, a promise she had made and sworn over Carolyn's body. Take care of them, she could almost hear Carolyn gasping it in her mind. And "them" included Riddick. She breathed out slowly and looked down at the ground, considering for a moment. He could kill them, easily, if Alex let him into their little sanctuary, hers and Jack's. But it was her duty, and try as she might she couldn't think of a reason that he would try to kill them. As she brought her head back up, she sheathed her sword. Did she see his body relax a small bit? However, that didn't mean that she could still be suspicious. The flame was still in her mind, still keeping her calm.  
  
"Why should I trust that?" she asked, genuine question in her voice.  
  
But almost before she had finished speaking, he unexpectedly lunged at her. Taken totally by surprise, she stepped back only to find that she was closer to the wall than she thought. Panic and fear threatened to overwhelm her, but in that split second she reached behind her back and snapped the knife out of its sheath. But before she was able to bring it in front of her he was on her, his body blocking the light, one arm holding her pinned against the wall and the other hand with a knife to her throat. The best she had been able to do was bring the knife down to his groin, but she didn't think he had noticed yet. Damn, he was fast. She couldn't move, the knife at her throat prohibited her from doing so, but her heart pounded in her chest in shock. She only hoped her fear wasn't as visible on the outside, and tried to glare icily at him. Son of a bitch. He leaned in, his mouth next to her ear. The flame burned higher, and she calmed a little.  
  
"Because if I wanted to, I could have killed you already," he whispered confidently. "Just like that."  
  
Time to play the wild card. "Just like that?" she whispered back, hoping she sounded cold, and pressed her knife into his lower abdomen, not quite enough to start cutting. She could feel his body give a tiny start, and he brought his head back to look right into her eyes. Damn those glasses! She wished she could see his eyes, be able to read him. His lips curved into a small smile as she glared at him, her anger coming on more strongly now. He thought he could frighten her like that, did he? She kept repressing the small voice in the back of her mind, shrieking in fear that he had come so close to possibly killing her.  
  
He let out a small "Hm," and slowly backed away from her, the knife the last part that he removed as she brought her knife up to face him.  
  
"So THAT was supposed to make me trust you?" she said, scathingly. He shrugged. But when she thought about it again, it did prove a point. He could have killed her. It had just taken that little confrontation to realize how fast he could move, how open she could be if she wasn't on the highest guard, watching her step. She sighed, knowing that she couldn't wriggle out of the promise she made. He had still pissed her off, though. Anything that made her show weakness pissed her off. And being pissed off was better than being afraid.  
  
"Come on, then," she snapped at him, turning quickly and resheathing the knife at her back. He picked up a small bag that he had left in the shadows, slung it over his shoulder, and followed her.  
  
They made their way among the high-rise buildings of the Loku residential areas, Alex leading Riddick on a twisted route through dirty streets, walking quickly in silence. What would Jack say about her coming home late, and bringing Riddick, she wondered. Neither of them said anything. Alex was still angry, mostly at herself, and strode quickly, knowing Riddick could follow. She slowed as they stepped into the pool of flickering light that was the front door to her apartment building and pushed the door in, catching herself before she shuddered at the roach skittering across the "lobby" floor. In three hundred years they still hadn't wiped out the disgusting insect. She took in the cracked paint and dirty floors. But it was cheap, and cheap meant they could live there.  
  
She pressed the elevator call button and the silvery doors opened immediately. She walked in, head high, and pressed the "10" button as she passed, then stood in the back corner. As she turned around to stare at the silver doors until they opened her eyes followed Riddick as he entered, the harsh light of the elevator illuminating his shaven head and angular features. He moved towards the corner opposite from her, turning around and placing his hands together in front of him. He looked so out of place in this elevator she had ridden so many times, to associate with home. The elevator doors closed and she glared at them. She was angry because she didn't want to have to watch her step all the time, especially not in the apartment, the only place where she was able to relax. With a tremendous effort she kept her eyes on the doors as the elevator sped upwards. The only improvement in so many years was that they were faster.  
  
A soft "ding" sounded and the doors opened, revealing the bare concrete of the hallway and the dirty walls. She stepped out and headed to the left, where the door to the apartment lay at the end of the hall. She slowed down, bringing out her keys from a vest pocket, but suddenly a thought occurred to her. Jack, who was supposed to be asleep, might appreciate more of a warning if Riddick would be in the apartment. Sometimes she babbled on about him. Hero-worship, undoubtedly.  
  
She looked up at him, looming in the hallway. "Stay here, I'll wake up Jack," she said, and then paused. He seemed a little surprised when she had said Jack, but she didn't care. She summoned up the flame and it took all her courage to say the next part, which she had been thinking about in the elevator. Glaring up at him, she said in a dangerously soft voice, "Riddick, if you hurt her, or do anything to us, I will kill you. I swear it." The emphasis in her voice surprised even her, and she wordlessly turned back to the door. Never, ever had she killed a human being, but anyone that hurt her little "family" would have to be reckoned with.  
  
Four keys for the four locks on the door. The landlord laughed at her when she said how many, but she installed them just the same. One at the top and the bottom, two in the middle. Every other apartment on the floor had been broken into, but not theirs. She glanced at Riddick one more time, then left him in the hallway and slipped inside, locking one lock behind her on the thick plasmetal door.  
  
"Jack?" she called softly in the dark living room. "I'm home." She turned up the dimmer switch and the room was flooded with light.  
  
Jack, fully dressed, walked out of her room. "Alex! You were late, I-I started to worry!" Her face held a mixture of concern and ire. Jack never liked being alone so late, but that was the job. Alex walked into the living room and took off her vest, placing it on the small chair. She looked at Jack and smiled at her concern.  
  
"Busy night. And what were you doing up, ma'am?" she said, for a moment her concern about Riddick gone as she felt a warmth in her heart. "It's 2am."  
  
"Yah, I know," Jack said ruefully. "But there's no school tomorrow and I was messing around on the net, waiting for you to get home." Alex couldn't be mad at her for staying up late, not on a weekend. To tell the truth she was glad that Jack was up and dressed. "What happened?" Jack continued. "Was there another fight?"  
  
Alex had been straight with Jack about the street fights. It was part of Loku's, ah, charm, and Jack needed to know about it. Jack knew that Alex could handle herself. But this time there was something a little bit different.  
  
"Yeah, there was," Alex admitted, a slight twist to her mouth, remembering it. Then she brought herself back to the present. "And, well, I-" she broke off, not sure how to say it. Jack looked at her expectantly. Well, she might as well just be blunt. "Jack, Riddick's in the fucking hallway outside," she let out with a sigh.  
  
Jack's eyes got enormous. "Holy shit! Ho-ly shit!" she said. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?"  
  
"Would I?" Alex sighed, leaning against the wall as Jack started pacing nervously. "He wants to stay here. Couple of days, he said."  
  
"Stay, stay here?!" Jack almost squeaked, either from nervousness or excitement. "But you always told me it was just us and Imam that could be here."  
  
"I know," Alex sighed, "but he was part of that promise, Jack. Besides, you'll finally get to talk to him, eh?" she tried to put a positive sort of spin on it.  
  
"Alex," Jack said, coming up close to her, a smile hovering on her face, "this is so cool!" She grinned impishly and ran off into her bedroom. Alex sighed. She sort of knew that Jack would be this way. But Riddick liked her, Alex was pretty sure, so perhaps her enthusiasm would make it a bit more pleasant.  
  
As Jack started rummaging around, Alex felt anxious over having to let Riddick in. But it had to be done. She leaned one hand on the doorframe, and unlocked the door with the other hand, then opened it. Alex peered around to see Riddick leaning against the wall directly opposite the door. It snapped her out of Jack's bubbly happiness a bit to realize that she was letting a convicted killer into her home. It was so tempting that she almost, almost shut the door in his face. She opened the door more and he got up from his casual position. Opening it all the way, she removed her hand from the doorframe.  
  
"Come in," she said.  
  
He walked slowly through the door, almost cautiously. As he got all the way in and stood staring at the tiny living room, Alex closed the door behind him, wishing there was some way for him not to be in her apartment right now.  
  
Jack poked her head out of her bedroom. "Hi," she said, her face completely serious.  
  
"Hey, kid," he rumbled, his voice sounding almost.genial.  
  
"So, you're staying here, huh?" Jack said, walking out of her room. Alex noticed that there was a knife in Jack's right boot, and knew that the other was probably in the back sheath, like her own. Under any other circumstances she would have broken into a smile at Jack's attempt to impress somebody, but not tonight when she had Riddick standing in her hallway.  
  
"Yeah, for a few days," Riddick said, walking into the living room and looking around through sunglasses. He turned around and looked at Alex, and with a start she realized that the lights were too bright. Calmly she went over to the dimmer and put them down a bit, and Riddick took his glasses off.  
  
Jack's serious face broke into a grin, and she started going off a mile a minute. "So where ya been what you been doing why you here-" she stopped as Alex cleared her throat, looking at her in disappointed.  
  
"It's late, Jack, you should go to bed. You can talk tomorrow," Alex said, which was true. She, too, wanted to ask questions of Riddick but she felt the busy night at the Orchid beginning to wear on her. Hopefully she'd be able to get some sleep tonight, although she wasn't sure how that would work out what with Riddick in her damn apartment. She also had a second motive, to get Jack behind a locked door and safe from Riddick. He might be in her apartment but that didn't mean she had to like it, or trust him any.  
  
"Aw, Alex, he just got here," Jack started to whine, not caring if Riddick saw her as "tough" or not at this moment.  
  
"Bed." Alex said, in her no-nonsense tone of voice that she rarely used. She hated it, sometimes, being the adult. But she wanted to raise Jack as best she could. Jack had taught her some things, already, too.  
  
Jack's face looked crestfallen, but she trudged off into her room and closed the door, then clicked all three locks into place. Riddick sat down on the couch and set down a small bag as Alex turned to do the same on the main door. You're locked in with a killer, Alex, said that tiny voice inside once the fourth lock was in. She took a deep breath and turned around, seeing Riddick staring at her from the couch with those silvery eyes. She picked up her vest from the back of the chair opposite him and stood in the hallway, all her tiredness hitting her at once.  
  
"Jack's room, my room, bathroom down the hall, kitchen," she said wearily while pointing to each, thinking how surreal it was that she was explaining all this to Riddick. "If you want food help yourself." She went down the hall to her room and walked to the closet unit, tossing her vest on the bed as she did. Opening the doors, she reached up on the tips of her toes to pull down the extra blanket, a nice synthwool, and pillow she had up there. She went back to the living room and tossed them across to land beside Riddick, who still just sat there. She walked over to the dimmer switch and flipped it to "off," leaving him sitting in the dark illuminated only by the light from the windows. Too tired to play the game of intimidation any longer, she ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.  
  
"Now if you'll excuse me, I've had a busy fucking night and I'm going to bed. Goodnight," she said, then turned and walked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her and clicking closed the three locks. She took off all her weapons and put them in the right place, then sat on the bed, took off her calf-high boots and then changed for bed. As she finally lay down underneath the covers, she could not stop thinking about how Riddick was in the next room over. The doors were too thick to hear what he was doing. It took a long time to go to sleep.  
  
Riddick relaxed as Alex's door closed behind her, and heard the locks closed. Three on each bedroom, he mused, and four on the main door. Fucking paranoid, he thought. Then remembered the neighborhood they had come through in order to get to the building. Maybe not so paranoid, then. She wasn't a one to take many chances, although he had thought that facing down six guys in a shadowy street was pretty fucking stupid until he had seen what she could do.  
  
He couldn't believe that Alex had let him inside the apartment. He had been conflicted about the whole thing, not even half sure that she would let him stay with them. And she was taking care of Jack. He had almost laughed at how the kid had walked towards him with almost an exact copy of the swagger that Alex had. But then the sobering thought of the real reason he was there came as a chilly reminder. He looked around at the apartment. Nice place, he thought to himself. Better than the hellholes that he'd been in his whole life. He couldn't remember the last time he had sat on a couch. He decided to sit awhile, in the dark, and think about how to tell them.  
  
Notes: Of COURSE it was Riddick. Who else did you think it was, Johns? No, no, no. And Alex, so far, doesn't kill. Remember how she felt when she had to kill the creature in the last story? It's going to take something really bad to make her do that. I hope that you're still enjoying the story, two chapters in two days, yeah! 


	3. I do what I can

Chapter 3 - I do what I can  
  
Alex opened her eyes several hours later, as the red-orange sunlight streamed through her window. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock to see it said 8am. Muttering to herself about sleeping late, she tossed off the covers and tried to clear her bleary eyes, then stood up and opened the closet unit drawers. Changing into her typical black tank top and black pants, she froze as she realized why, when she normally didn't need much sleep, she was so tired this morning.  
  
Whirling around, her eyes flew to the locks on the door. Still in place. He must still be out in the living room. Thinking it over briefly, she couldn't believe she had acquiesced so easily last night, it must have been the shock of seeing Riddick after such a long time. That fucking promise she made. Imam had asked her about it when they had gotten to Moltai, why the girl who ostracized everyone was suddenly so willing to help a holy man and a kid out. So she told him. And Jack overheard. So both of them knew, and it had never occurred to her that Riddick would come waltzing back into her life again so that she would have to take care of him too. There was a part of her, however, that welcomed the oath which had brought her two people, Jack and Imam, who she could open her frozen heart to.  
  
She shook herself, thinking how ridiculous it was that she was standing here in her own room, almost afraid to go outside of it because of the person on the other side of the door. She took in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself to talk to him. Which she would have to do. Yes, she was afraid of him, but the only way to get one up on him was to act like she wasn't. She looked down at her arm, at the silver armband which she always wore, it had made it through her ordeal with those creatures, and it would make it through this. It had the Chinese character for "flame" on it, but beneath it was the chip that held information for the accounts where she the emergency stash of her money, half of what was left from the original five hundred thousand. But it was the "flame" character she was looking at now, and, closing her eyes, she pictured the flame that burned inside of her.  
  
Opening her eyes, she walked over to the weapons rack and strapped on the back sheath for her knife, pulling her tank top over the thicker material would conceal it. A little. She pulled on her boots while sitting on the bed. The fear had gone away a little when she put on the knife, and she hoped that it would be enough should anything happen. Her head hurt, and she yawned, regretting that her morning ritual would be disrupted today and that she felt so tired. She yearned for a good strong cup of coffee. She probably hadn't fallen asleep until a couple of hours ago. Sighing, she forced her feet to move towards the door. She was still afraid of him, but steeled herself to act the opposite.  
  
As Alex moved towards the door, she heard what sounded like voices coming from the other side, but she couldn't make it out. Unlocking the door, she opened it and stopped as she saw Riddick, awake and staring at her through his glasses as she emerged from her room. The vidscreen was on, the volume low, and he was seated on the nondescript blue couch as if he had been watching it. It was only a second's pause, a shock back into the reality of the menacing presence actually in her "house," and then she nodded at him and boldly strode into the kitchen. She could feel his eyes following her as she pressed the "entry" button on the food/beverage dispenser. Her mouth was dry, but it didn't have anything to do with the fact that she had just woken up.  
  
"Coffee, black," she said to the dispenser, her voice raspy. As she flipped up the panel to remove the mug full of good, strong, coffee, she barely kept her hands from shaking. Don't even look at him, she thought. Just don't act afraid. A flare of anger helped with that, at the fact that her relatively peaceful existence had to now be one of this intimidation game. Bastard. Just stay angry.  
  
Riddick was indeed watching Alex as she came out of her bedroom. She was the one who had not acted afraid, at least of him, from the very beginning. When he had come out and asked her about it, she had dodged the question, and at that point he was trying to manipulate the situation to expose Johns, so he hadn't pressed the issue. He couldn't deny that she interested him. Intrigued him, more like. She definitely knew how to handle herself, and those five blades she wore. Though the sword and most of the others were noticeably absent today, his eyes had noted the small, low bulge in the middle of her back, indicating the knife she kept back there. He remembered it from last night, thinking of his slip, letting her get it around without him noticing. At first sight, seeing her in that hold with him in chains, he'd thought that she wasn't that much of a threat. Just a stupid bitch, staring at him, the monster, in chains. But she'd continually surprised him, it taught him to look past that, look for her weak points. He hadn't found many. That little speech she had given the holy man, when he overheard, had surprised the hell out of him and was the first emotion he'd seen out of her. He'd caught her staring at him a few times, a puzzled look on her face. Probably trying to figure him out same as he tried to do with her. And this arrangement she had, taking care of the kid. Most of all, he couldn't forget the fact that she had saved his life. Twice. Very intriguing.  
  
Alex sipped her coffee and pretended not to notice Riddick, and he slid his eyes back to the vidscreen, pretending not to notice her. The growing tension was becoming so thick Alex could almost cut it with one of her knives. What to say?  
  
The problem was solved for her as Riddick took the first step.  
  
"Uh, thank you," he rumbled, breaking the silence. Startled, Alex stared at him over her steaming mug, trying to read his face. From all she could tell it was completely genuine, which surprised her. The most dangerous person she knew, and he was thanking her. What was his motivation? Why the hell was he here? He could have stayed in any number of places, but here? There must be another reason. And being so-unnaturally-polite to her. There had to be something else behind it. It must have taken a lot of effort to find them, effort she didn't think that Riddick would take with two or three people who he'd piloted off that rock.  
  
She cleared her throat. "You're welcome," she said, then looked back down into her cup, as if it would give her an answer. But no answer came, so she decided to go for broke. She tipped her head back to finish the rest of her coffee, as if she was taking a shot. Putting the mug down onto the counter, she walked to the edge of the kitchen-living room border and leaned against the wall.  
  
"How did you find us?" she asked hesitantly. But not too hesitantly. The game was still on. And yet, it occurred to her that he was a sliver more trustworthy than she had thought earlier. He had, to her knowledge, done nothing to the apartment or to them.  
  
He turned to face her, the vid blinking in the backround. "Imam," he said simply, at which she berated herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course. New Mecca, one of the Hunter-Grazner's original destinations. The spirituality of the many pilgrims who traveled there permeated the entire planet. Imam, the "holy man," would no doubt have tried to convince them to go there or gone on alone.  
  
"Ah," Alex acknowledged. An awkward silence followed, and he looked at her expectantly, probably wanting to know how they had become separated. She looked down at the carpet, remembering the talk she and Imam had one day. "We all stayed together but Imam, he was.dying here. This is no place for a person like him. Especially not Loku," she trailed off. The first few months had been, quite simply, awful. Even her training, her control, had not prepared her for the chaos that ruled the streets at times.  
  
She looked back up, into his face. He seemed thoughtful, processing the information she had given him. Which wasn't much. But without knowing his intentions, the less she divulged, the better. He still scared the hell out of her, even though she tried as hard as she could to act like she wasn't afraid. A thought occurred to her that if Imam had contacted Riddick, it would have been nice of the man to give her some advance warning. But Imam had his own reasons for doing things. Interesting how Riddick had showed up not at her door, but intercepted her in the fight yesterday.  
  
"And, I suppose, you just happened to be in that street last night?" she asked him, curious as to how he knew to be there at that precise moment. He must have been watching her. But for how long, she wondered.  
  
"That's right. You were so busy I didn't get a chance for a second drink," he responded, a little smirk on his face as he saw realization dawning for a split second when he dropped that tidbit of information.  
  
It hit her like a thunderbolt. The man, at the bar, whose frame had looked so familiar. It must have been Riddick. Shit, she thought, how long had he been watching her? The one night when she couldn't see everyone in the bar, he had come in. She caught herself quickly and removed the surprise from her face, but she thought he had seen it anyways. Damn. He had seen it. Her fault, for not being more careful at the bar, not realizing someone was watching her. It got her a little angry with herself. To cover it, she snorted.  
  
"Well, least you could've done was help me out a bit," she got out, turning back to go into the kitchen. "I'm sure that you could have handled one of them," she tossed over her shoulder, emphasizing 'one' as she inwardly tried to still her pounding heart. Don't look back, don't look back. Don't let him think for one second that you care about what he thinks. She punched in the code for a breakfast bar and then walked around to take a seat across the table from Riddick, a fake sweet smile on her face.  
  
The bolts slid out of place on Jack's door, and it opened, revealing a fully-dressed Jack with a mixture of seriousness and excitement on her face. Serious to try and impress Riddick, Alex thought. But the excitement got the better of Jack and she smiled and walked out of her room, taking a seat on the chair next to Alex. Alex couldn't help but smile back. After all, being tough on Riddick had nothing to do with being tough on Jack.  
  
"You're up early, for a day with no school," she told Jack, a knowing smile on her face. It was pretty cute, really, this attachment Jack had to Riddick. Except for the whole 'he's a killer' part, she wouldn't have minded. But there were times when she reminded herself that she couldn't protect Jack from everything, or anything, really, if Jack didn't want her to. It was such an odd mother/sister relationship, but it worked.  
  
"Yeah, I, uh, wanted to talk. You know, you said I could today," Jack said, glancing at Riddick, then back at Alex, almost as if for consent.  
  
"Yah, I did," Alex replied. "Go ahead, then, don't need my permission or anything."  
  
Jack smiled again, and proceeded to ask Riddick what he had been doing. Alex let Jack do all of the asking, listening carefully as Riddick reluctantly answered questions in that deep voice of his. A voice which seemed to be lighter with Jack than with her. Seems that he had been going from spaceport to planet to port, getting a new identity, gathering money. Just traveling around, he said vaguely. Probably doing a lot of other things that he didn't want Jack to know about, Alex thought. Jack started talking about her school, and how she messed around on the computer. She was actually quite good at hacking, for someone who learned from experience only.  
  
Riddick was silent through it all. As Jack noticed, she wound down her talk, looking at Riddick expectantly. What was wrong, Alex thought? Tired of a fourteen year old chatting at him? She couldn't have misinterpreted his like for Jack, of that she was certain. But what he said caught her totally off guard.  
  
"Why do you stay here?" he asked, looking right at Alex. Definitely a question she had never expected. She looked at him, weighing her options. What answer could she give that he wouldn't look on her as a fool for doing?  
  
"It's.safe," she began hesitantly, then continued in a rush. "Safe from the law, safe from anyone who might be poking around, trying to find us. Either of us." To her own ears it sounded like faulty reasoning. "And it's what I can afford." There was the real reason, mostly.  
  
"Come on, I saw that shit you had with you on the ship," he told her, his voice seeming more insistent. Why was he pressing this point? "If you can afford that, you can afford a nicer place than this. Or a ticket out of here."  
  
"Look," she spat at him, angry at the assumption that she had lots of money. It was slowly running out, she had been forced to slowly leach money out of her savings, her emergency funds which she accessed from the chip in her armband. "That was a one-time deal. I don't have-" she broke off, pausing to consider her wording. "I don't have enough to start up somewhere else. This works."  
  
How could she say that it was never in her plan to take care of someone else? Never to live in any manner other than the day-to-day, to live without a purpose? Now she had to plan, to make everything last. It would do Jack no good if she got herself killed tomorrow, and Jack could hardly make it on her own. She could never say that, though, it would hurt Jack if she let on how coldly she had analyzed it. Once. It was all different now. She couldn't leave Jack.  
  
"Yeah, it works all right," Riddick replied scornfully, yet calmly. "Hiding away, hoping the rats of the street don't gang up on you, waiting it out, until what? You may not be as protected as you like to think."  
  
Where the hell was all of this coming from? And what was that supposed to mean? Fucking Riddick. If he would only make sense once in awhile. She had him pegged, mostly, for a mean junkyard dog who only wanted to frighten everyone else. Or kill them. No, not a dog, a tiger, coldly calculating its next kill. But now, ever since the planet, ever since he had said "Riddick's dead, somewhere on that planet," she could not for the life of her read him. Oh come on, a part of her yelled, you never could.  
  
"Alex does the best she can!" Jack shrilled, suddenly upset. But not angry, more like frightened. Alex felt the guilty pleasure from Jack standing up for her, but soon concern overshadowed it. "We're protected, she protects us. And I'm learning!" Alex's concern deepened as she heard the note of desperation in Jack's voice, almost like she was trying to convince herself. Looking over at Jack, Alex tried to catch her eye, to calm her down, but the girl was still upset.  
  
"Well maybe the best you can isn't good enough anymore," Riddick said, causing Alex to snap her head in his direction and glare at him. If she could she'd burn right though those glasses, trying to see any honesty, and clue of what he was talking about in his eyes.  
  
She could almost feel the fear emanating off of Jack in waves. She had curled up her legs and was holding them closely to herself, looking down and muttering what sounded like, "no, we're safe," over and over again. Whatever he was saying seemed to be hitting her especially hard. Alex couldn't understand why, all it was doing to her was making her angry. She broke her gaze with Riddick to look back at Jack, who had an expression of growing fear on her face, almost like what she looked like during a nightmare. She had to find out what the fuck Riddick was talking about, and without Jack right there. Executive decision.  
  
"Get up," she said suddenly to Riddick, getting up herself and scowling at him, her voice cracking with anger. Why was he scaring Jack? "We are going for a walk, you and me." And you will tell me exactly what you mean when you say "not good enough anymore" she added to herself. "Jack, you're staying here," as Jack started to get up, too. "No questions." She walked quickly into her room and yanked down her sword and belt, slipping them on in a smooth movement, then slammed a boot knife into each sheath. You're letting him see your anger, she thought, but she didn't care. She pulled a long-sleeved shirt over her tank top, then her vest over that, and picked up her wrist knife as she walked out of the room, where Riddick had stood up and slung his bag over a shoulder, ready to go. She was angry at him, for saying she was inadequate. For frightening Jack. And for some reason, angry at herself for not knowing what was going on at all times. He knew something that scared Jack witless, and she didn't.  
  
When he saw her stalk out of her room and start strapping on that tricky wrist knife, under the long sleeve, he made his way to the door and smoothly unlocked it, opening it as Alex put her hand on Jack's shoulder.  
  
"I'm going to find out exactly what he means," she whispered. But Jack, the fear only showing in her eyes, now, shrugged away. Angry at not being allowed to come. "Lock the door," Alex said softly, and looked back up at Riddick, eyes blazing.  
  
"Go," she barked, following him. The door closed behind them and she heard all four locks click shut. The elevator immediately came and as soon as the door closed she turned to stare at him.  
  
"What the fuck do you mean, 'anymore'?" she growled to his impassive face.  
  
But one word was all he said. "Wait." It infuriated her even more. But she waited, giving her time to calm herself down, finding the flame, feeding her anger into it. With calm came the restraining thought that she was almost about to draw on Richard B. Riddick, not exactly a good idea.  
  
They stepped out of the elevator and she followed him through the lobby, lengthening her steps to catch up to his strides. He seemed tense, but not angry. She was certainly angry with him, however. Once they got outside, he put his hand up to shade his eyes from the blinding sun and touched the sidepiece of his glasses. A part of her, dissociated from the increasing desire to put the sword to his throat, noted that the glasses became darker.  
  
He kept walking until they had passed into the shadows of the high rises. He slowed his pace and she walked alongside him instead of behind.  
  
"Now," he drawled, "you want to know what's got the kid so frightened, doncha?"  
  
Notes: Sorry it took so long with this next chapter. I had a bit of a block, oh no! I'm not especially pleased with it, but the next one will, I promise, be much better because I'll finally pick up the pace a bit. 


	4. And then it's all gone

Notes: Okay I would have had this up MUCH sooner but the Document Manager didn't work! Gar!  
  
Chapter 4 - And then it's all gone  
  
Glowering, Alex resisted the urge to hit that confident look off of his face.  
  
"Too right. She's scared to death, damn it, and it is not acceptable for you to keep doing it without me knowing what the hell is going on!" She was slipping, not thinking of the game, only thinking of what on earth could have Jack scared so badly.  
  
"Someone's after her," Riddick said simply.  
  
She could have screamed at the man in frustration. "Of course," she said icily, "you care to elaborate on who?!" Her voice had a dangerous edge to it. If he was going to tempt her with mere snippets of the truth, she'd be better off finding it out herself. She drew in a deep breath, reminding herself she had virtually no hacking ability because so far she hadn't had time to learn, and for now, had to rely on Riddick's information.  
  
"Look, is there someplace we can sit where nobody on the street will hear?" he questioned her, bringing her up short while she tried to think of someplace to go without realizing first that it would probably be something quite dangerous for no one on the Loku streets to hear.  
  
Up until now, they had been walking down the street. Alex agreed with Riddick after she considered it a moment, thinking that it would be better if she could sit down, perhaps glare at Riddick until he told her. She spotted, out of the corner of her eye, the sign for Nightflower, a seedy Loku bar that passed as a restaurant during the day, but with patrons discreet enough to mind their own business. The owner said that this time of day they served "breakfast," but usually it wasn't much else than catering to the patrons still drunk from last night.  
  
"There," she said, walking across the street and into the Nightflower, Riddick following with an amused look on his face. One part of Alex was screaming at her to watch her back, she'd let him walk behind her, but she was so angry and, though she hated to admit it, curious, she didn't care. Nodding at the bartender, she made her way to a booth in the back and sat down, watching Riddick slide into the seat across from her. She wanted to wipe that arrogant smirk off of his face, but instead briefly looked around the bar. They were two of eight people there, none of the others posing any threat. All were seated at the bar except Riddick and Alex.  
  
The floor waitress, audibly sighing and standing up from where she had been chatting with the bartender, wandered over and tiredly asked them what they wanted. Her over made-up face, provocative dress, and eyes that said she had seen too much, made Alex cringe to see them this early in the morning. A district that never slept, she reminded herself. It gave Alex a surge of gratitude that she had been able to be hired as a bartender. Floor waiters never got any respect and had to run back and forth, especially on a busy night. No, she would never trade places with this woman.  
  
"I'll have caff, please," Alex said, glancing at Riddick with a questioning look in her eyes, and he nodded. "Two, then" Alex finished looking at the table, smoothly pulling a thirty-cred slip out of her pocket. She looked up into the woman's eyes. "And nobody bothers us," she added, sliding the paper across the table discreetly. The woman's sharp eyes glanced down at the table and snatched up the note, stuffing it into her pocket. A wide, false smile broke out on her face. A nice profit for her. Loku residents kept to themselves, but if you wanted to keep them quiet, you had to pay. A lesson that Alex had learned by observation.  
  
The woman walked away and quickly returned with two cups of caff. Alex actually preferred coffee, as she had for many years before the discovery of caff, but the warm, stimulating beverage was good enough. It grew much better than coffee did on any of the colonized planets, and so it had replaced coffee with its cinnamon-hazelnut taste. She took one sip, her eyes on Riddick the entire time, and put her cup down. She waited for Riddick to speak, inwardly fuming at his silence while he finished his entire cup, but maintaining a calm exterior. He seemed to be enjoying this, keeping her in suspense. It seemed again, surreal, that here she was, sitting down sharing a cup of caff with Riddick.  
  
His eyes had been on her the entire time, watching her emotion come in waves. Surprisingly she had become incredibly angry when Jack had responded to his suggestions. Perhaps her attachment and desire to protect Jack would make it easier to accept what the kid would have to do when he gave her his information. It was also interesting to see any emotion whatsoever, for before this she had always been an ice-queen towards him. She wasn't like any other woman he had known. Women were playthings until proven otherwise, and none had proven otherwise until now. With the possible exception of Carolyn Fry. A momentary pang flashed through him at the memory. The one person who'd invited him to "rejoin the human race," and she had died for him. It was the one event which had given him pause, pause enough to consider doing just that. There were few people living, three in particular, whom he didn't mind as much as he used to. Of course, that didn't mean that he had to go soft, but there was a crack in his walls that hadn't been there before.  
  
As he put down his empty mug, Riddick again examined at the woman seated across from him through the glasses he wore. Once, he had made the mistake of thinking of her as pliable and naïve. Once. Now, the standoffish behavior from when he had first seen her had evolved into street toughness. After seeing her handle herself with the six men in that alleyway, there was no way he would make that same mistake again. It was amusing at times, this game they played, but now was not the time for it.  
  
Two months ago, while hacking into databases to create a new identity, he had stumbled onto the hitlist of some of the most elite mercs. Hacking came to him easily; before he was sent to the Slam, he had easily picked it up from the net labs in his city. He had changed identities many times, allowing him to smoothly travel between galaxies, until he was caught. But never had he come upon a list like this. And on that list he could not forget the scared, pale face of a child looking out at him from the screen.  
  
Jack, or Natelle Jaqueline Tumioni, was the youngest child of one of the wealthiest and most influential shipping families to come out of old Earth. The Tumiones were also one of the dirtiest, with fingers in every pie, including corruption and takeover of planetary government and even some large-scale organized crime. The enormous family company had flourished in the years after the space-travel revolution, establishing a foothold on most of the major colonies. However, its influence with the government and its long-term initiation of one of its members to the Governing Council on Earth had caused any legislation to turn a blind eye to its activities. Besides, they were a necessary evil, with the fastest cargo ships and the most contracts with major tech distributors. Other than their influence, much of them remained a mystery. But one thing was for certain, it was a very large mistake to mess around with anything branded 'Tumioni.'  
  
Jack, it seemed, had run away from her family fourteen months ago. The scared face was indeed younger but undeniably the same as the girl who had shared the harrowing experience on that dark planet. And, for some reason, they had recently escalated the search, that merc elite list was reserved for the most expensive and the most difficult to capture. A little more digging had unearthed the fact that she had blasted her way out of the family compound that was located on Vega 4, killing several guards and one family member in the process. More than that, he could not find. But judging from Jack's reaction when he started in on it, she must have been desperate to get out of there. There were rumors of all sorts surrounding the Tumioni's dealings with unwilling participants in their company.  
  
Why he had come to warn them, he didn't know. That list had been posted quite recently, and judging from the pricetag on Jack, it wouldn't be long until the mercs found her. The Tumioni stronghold on Moltai was not a major one, but the combined efforts of mercs and guards would soon make the anonymity offered by the Loku district meaningless. Before his experience on that planet, he wouldn't have given two shits if the kid got found by mercs. But her soulful, scared eyes had touched him deeply, and he had felt a fierce desire to protect her from whatever fate she was running from. And so he had found Imam, peaceful on New Mecca, whose piercing gaze judged him as honest and told him where to find Jack and Alex.  
  
Riddick leaned in slightly so that his mouth was below the line of sight over the booth. "She's a Tumioni," he said softly, judging rightly that it was all he would have to say.  
  
Alex's eyes widened and she felt an unconscious sharp intake of breath, looking down at the table to hide the shock in her eyes. Tumioni. The name had discreetly occurred many times in the history volumes she had read, and her meager poking around on the net to find more about them had yielded little, but all she needed to know. If Jack was Tumioni, and was running, then there were not many places to hide if she was being looked for. And there would be no one to help them against the Tumioni.  
  
She looked up at Riddick, who had intensely been studying her reaction. "Why now?" she started, then shook her head answered herself. "They're looking for her, aren't they?"  
  
She had gotten to it quicker than he had thought she would. Then again, he knew that she was just as intelligent as she was, but usually too restrained to show it.  
  
"I found her name on the elite merc list two months ago. They're good. Very good. They're probably no more than a few months from finding her," he finished. There. That was all he had to tell them. But why was it that he didn't just up and leave right now? It stood to reason that Alex and Jack would both leave together, but why did he want to make sure that they got away?  
  
"You have to leave here," he told her, gazing at her intently. Did she realize how serious it was?  
  
She certainly did. The tightening in her stomach became more intense with each passing moment as she realized how much their perceived safety was in jeopardy. And how little she would be able to do against the Tumioni except run and hide and hope they wouldn't find them. Yes, they would definitely have to leave here. As soon as possible. A brief twinge came to her. How easy it would be to just leave Jack on her own? Immediately as that thought surfaced, she squashed it down. Not only had she promised, but Jack was the one thing that had helped a part of her be happy. And obviously the mere idea of going back to what she had left had frightened Jack half to death. No, she would stay with Jack, and do everything she possibly could to protect her. Not just duty, but choice.  
  
Alex suddenly became aware of the silence between herself and Riddick. The realization that they would have to leave had shocked the anger out of her, leaving only distress and no small part of fear. She almost started when she was jerked back to the reality of Riddick sitting across from her. Taking a deep breath, she pictured the flame in her mind, trying to burn it all away to leave nothing but cold reason.  
  
When she looked back up at Riddick, her eyes were masked, unreadable. But behind them, her thoughts raced. It had been hard enough to decide where to go originally, but to find somewhere now that Tumioni would never find would be extremely difficult. Logic took over. It would require skills that she did not have, and did not think that Jack had, either. She almost allowed a considering look to pass over her face but stopped, so that Riddick would not see. He had the skill enough to find the list, and to find herself. And he could pilot. He could definitely make them disappear if he could make the infamous Richard B. Riddick disappear. But how much would it take? Alex mentally calculated how much she could spare, and still have enough to start over somewhere.  
  
But she still had to do something, difficult for her to do. She had spent the last two years being independent, and the last year taking care of a kid essentially by herself. She did everything by herself, not really asking for help from anyone. Not wanting it. Yet here was help unasked, and with a great effort she made herself say the words.  
  
"Thank you," she got out, almost a whisper. The look on Riddick's face was almost priceless. She raised an eyebrow at his surprise, and instantly when he noticed she had seen it, his face was wiped clean. Unreadable. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was annoyed that he had been so taken aback to see gratitude from her. The next part she was even more hesitant about. She had to be sure. "Why did you do this?"  
  
For one split second, she saw a crack in Riddick's armor, something in his face and body that showed the struggle inside of him, and then it was gone. What was left was unreadable, and he paused for a long time before saying anything. But the second had been enough to see that even Riddick, big, badass Riddick, had more emotions than he let on, and had somehow grown attached to someone else besides himself.  
  
"For the kid. I know what it's like to run from someone," he answered, his voice containing none of the arrogance, none of the sneer she had heard previously. It sounded like truth. And the connection she saw between Riddick and Jack, and from Jack to herself, made her trust that honesty. Both of them, Riddick and Alex, protected this skinny, scared, fourteen- year old kid who was running from something they didn't even know how terrible it was.  
  
That surety, that beginning of trust, made it slightly easier to say the next part. She took a deep breath before beginning, then looked straight into his eyes, hoping he saw her as being honest as well. It wasn't so easy to admit that she was inadequate to protect Jack.  
  
"I know Jack, and I, have to run. But I," she paused, swallowing, "I don't possess the knowledge to take us somewhere where the Tumioni won't find us." It stung, to confess that. But they needed him, dammit. At least she didn't have to sound so desperate. "And you do."  
  
That was the second surprise of the evening for Riddick. Though he had remembered what he had overheard, when she told Imam the story she had no reason to make up, he had thought that she would try and cover for her deficiency, or at least find someone else besides him. Yet there was another part of him which was, shockingly, relieved that she had suggested he help, that he go along. The part of him, this alien feeling of wanting to protect another creature, would not be appeased by merely warning them. No, that part of him had been planning on going with all along. Damn it. Why did he ever allow himself to get mixed up in all of this!?  
  
She took his silence as disgust, or considering how he could give them the slip. "I can pay you," she broke in, her mind's eye picturing a bag of money with wings on it, flying away. "Twenty thousand creds. That and any expenses." Okay, maybe that did sound a little desperate. It was a large sum, though probably, she was sure, not much when compared with criminal big business. She only hoped it would be enough to tempt him to consider it.  
  
Last chance, Riddick, he thought to himself. Leave them both. But the decision had already been made, and if he made a little money off the deal, so be it. "Done," he found himself saying, but the inner struggle went on. He wasn't used to anything beyond thinking of himself, but everything had changed with one woman's sacrifice.  
  
Alex was surprised he had acquiesced so quickly, but a brief thrill of victory ran through her. Okay, she thought to herself, I can do this. She looked down at her still-full cup of caff, and finished it, even though it was only lukewarm.  
  
"We should probably get back," she said. "There's a lot to work out, we should leave as soon as possible." She glanced at him. It was interesting, striking a deal with a known killer. But now that there was a deal, she felt less afraid, for some reason. He grunted in reply, and slid out of the booth. Alex nodded across the room to the bartender and waitress as they left, signaling that they were finished here, and also a silent thanks for allowing no one to bother them. The rest of the clientele watched them leave, then turned to each other as soon as they were out the door. A dangerous man and woman, her looking even more so than him with all of those knives about. Interesting pair.  
  
They still said nothing on the way back up to the apartment in the elevator. Any plans they made would have to include Jack, she was certain on that point. And she meant to find out exactly what in the Tumioni she was running from. The doors opened onto the tenth floor, but Alex suddenly got the feeling that something was wrong. Just a feeling, she thought, and shook it off, leading the way out of the elevator.  
  
As she walked towards the apartment door, she suddenly felt as if she'd been hit against a brick wall. The door was open. Drawing closer, she saw that the frame had been gouged around the locks, as if someone had forced them open.  
  
"No," she whispered. Her entire body tensed as she almost ran into the apartment, not a sound coming from inside.  
  
"Jack?" she called. "Jack!!" again, more desperately. No answer. A terrible feeling began in her stomach and coursed throughout her entire body. She turned into Jack's room, not seeing Riddick coming into the apartment, his knife out, stalking into the living room, peering around to see if anyone was there.  
  
Alex stood in Jack's small, empty room, her body shaking in shock. She and Riddick hadn't even been away for that long. The room was a shambles, the closet unit's doors pulled open and clothing strewn on the floor, the desk knocked down where it had been pushed in front of the adjoining room's door. Empty. Jack was gone. Gone. They had only been gone a little while. Only a little while. She felt like her heart had been ripped out of her body. Two tears formed in Alex's eyes, but before they fell, a cold, unrelentless anger took ahold of her. And one realization. Only two people knew where she was, and only Imam was trustworthy.  
  
Riddick. That son of a bitch.  
  
She grit her teeth, feeling nothing but the anger, her eyes chips of ice, and turned to walk out the door. As she spun she flicked out the small knife from her wrist sheath. The bastard. She walked out of Jack's room, and seeing Riddick in one corner of the living room, his back towards her as he put away his knife while looking out the window, she moved towards him.  
  
"YOU!" she got out, her voice shaking with fury. He spun just as she reached him and backed up in surprise as he saw a black-haired hellion advancing on him. His back hit the corner as, too startled to respond, he could do nothing as she darted in like a cobra to lay her knife against his throat, pressing it hard so that a drop of blood formed at its tip.  
  
"I warned you," she hissed, "that I would kill you if you betrayed us." 


	5. Playing the fool

Notes: Here it is!!! I know, I know, it's been a really long time, but work, family affairs, and Harry Potter book 5 won out (heh)! And work, and work, and did I mention work? Anyways, I'm glad that there are those of you who will still read it, though. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was hard work getting to it but here it is, much more narrative, less dialogue and action, sorry! Please review with comments!  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Alex hated him. The bastard, he had sold out Jack for some sum, he must have. Little did she know that the light in her eyes as she glared at Riddick burned so fiercely that it surprised even him. It frightened her, this sudden urge she had to follow through on that promise, to kill. It proved to herself how attached to Jack and to this life she had become, that she was willing to step over that line. It was hurt and impulsive anger, yes, but damn it felt good to lay a knife at the throat of the man she thought was responsible.  
  
"Did it feel good?" she sneered, "letting her think you had any modicum of feeling towards her? But no, she was just another paycheck, wasn't she? You're heartless, Riddick. She's a kid. A fucking kid!"  
  
Coming too close to the subject of Jack was dangerous. Alex felt her control slipping away, and quickly tried to think of anything to make it come back. The flame. The old trick. She tried putting all of the anger into it, but some remained, still. It was stopping her from seeing the warning signs on Riddick's body. He was tense, ready to move at the moment he deemed right. His face radiated rage directed towards her. That she couldn't miss.  
  
"Fuck you," he growled. "Is that what you think? Should've left you to them, too." His voice seemed to come back under control, the detached, but chilling, expression of a killer ready to strike. Soft. Dangerous.  
  
"Why didn't you?! Playing fucking games, right?" Alex felt the physical responses that would lead to tears. Not now! She screamed inwardly, trying to find a center, some way to move away from the fact that her world was crumbling around her. Again. She cursed herself for nine times the stupid fool, leaving Jack alone like that. How easy would it be to have someone watching, ready as soon as she left the building to move in and take Jack? All the deadbolts in the world won't stop the most determined bounty hunters. And now, this ugly situation she found herself in with no way out except to kill another human being. All the rage in the world couldn't make her do it, she knew that in her core.  
  
Alex's tiniest loss of concentration was just the slip Riddick needed. As a cobra striking, he swiftly knocked away her arm and grabbed her wrist, twisting it until she had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out in pain. At the same time, with his other hand he grabbed a fistful of her short black locks, pulling it and her head to such a position that she found herself unable to move without making the pain any more than it was. Damn him! He had known, somehow, that she couldn't kill him. Her eyes went wild, searching for any options.  
  
"If you remember, bitch," snarled Riddick, snapping her back to the moment, "It was you who suggested we go for a little walk, so I could tell you exactly who the 'fucking kid' was." His voice began to show signs of strain, holding back a beast's killing rage. "What reason would I have to do it?"  
  
Alex laughed, short and humorless, trying to cover the growing fear in her belly and trying not to wince at the pain. "Right, how easy is it to have someone watching, just waiting for the second you left with me. And maybe you knew that if you scared her enough, I'd take you out of there. Who knows what you do for money." It was a bluff. Truth be told, she didn't have a good reason why he would do it. Just a hunch conceived in the passion of anger.  
  
His hands tightened on her wrist and hair, making her neck muscles stick out in pain. "If I would have sold you out, bitch, you would have been dead a month ago and the kid would be screaming at the hands of the Tumioni. And I would have done it myself. You are, however, still alive." He was angry, angry at the suggestion that he had sold her out. Why?  
  
Why didn't he just kill her and be over with it then? It gave her pause. By all rights, facing down Richard B Riddick, she should be dead as soon as he was able to grab her wrist. He couldn't be really telling the truth, could he? Doubts crept into her mind. That combined with the fear and anger made it a walk on a knife's edge to maintain control, to try and think logically on how she could get out of this. Get to the sword. You're better at it than he is at knives.  
  
But he was no longer playing with her, like he was in the alley. Riddick chuckled, but it was an evil sort of laugh. A laugh which must have hid a killer's fury underneath. "And you think that you could even come close to killing me? Me?" he snarled into her ear scornfully. "Not too smart, Alex, not at all." His hot breath on her neck made her skin prickle and she realized how much like a mouse trapped by a great cat she felt. But she could not die today.  
  
Alex desperately tried to find a way out under the increasing pain in her wrist and scalp which flickered around the outskirts of the flame, threatening to overwhelm her, trying not to listen to what he said. It gave her a quick flare of anger, however, that he was so contemptuous. Quickly shifting her weight, Alex hit his groin with her knee, and as he grunted, off balance for a moment, threw a quick uppercut at his jaw with her other arm and twisted her wrist out of his grip. As soon as her wrist was free, she spun her whole body away from him, crying out as she felt a large chunk of hair ripped out of her scalp. The momentum of her action had thrown her body away from him and onto the floor about five feet away, but she used it to roll and came up into a crouch, her left hand going to the knife at her back and the right to pull the sword out of its sheath. She had just brought the sword up in time, as it stopped Riddick from leaping up at her.  
  
The two of them glared at one another, both in a fighting crouch, with three feet of steel between them. Waves of fear beat against her walls, against the flame, and Alex's mind rushed through a thousand thoughts in that minute, a hundred scenarios, on a resolution. Clearly she couldn't kill him, his reaction and, truth be told, the fading of her anger had clarified that he was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Which still meant he was a murderer and somewhat of an asshole to boot, but it wasn't enough to push her over the edge and exact swift justice. The only thing that remained was to find out, exactly, if he was involved in Jack's kidnapping or not. And she had no idea how to do it.  
  
Riddick said nothing, but Alex could see that his body was tensed. You fool, she told herself. Blaming Riddick, of all people, and now not having any way to get out of it. And it was all because she cared so much about Jack that she lost control of her emotions. Things were so much easier when she had tried to tell herself she didn't care about anything except the next day. Before Jack and Imam. Before the planet. Before she promised Carolyn she would take care of the remaining survivors. For a moment, she had forgotten that Riddick was somehow one of them, as well. But was he? Had he betrayed them? A risky, damn stupid plan began to form in Alex's mind. He was so insistent on the fact that he would kill her if he was going to betray them and hadn't, so let him prove it. What else did she have to lose?  
  
"All right, fine. Say you're telling the truth. You can prove it to me by not killing me now." It all came out in a rush. An incredibly big risk, but if she had Riddick pegged in this regard, he would take it. How else can you get a killer to convince you they haven't betrayed you? And now she felt doubly the fool, for acquiescing so quickly to feelings of blame towards Riddick.  
  
His reaction was that barely concealed surprise. She almost felt like laughing her triumph at startling him again, keeping him on her toes, but at the moment was concerned on reading his reaction. If he was intent on killing her, then probably she would be able to see it if he kept tense. Her eyes scanned his body, looking for telltale signs of attack, but she saw none. Instead, a wide smile broke out on the bottom half of his face only. Still angry, but amused.  
  
"You're taking an awfully big risk there, little girl," he said, amusement in his voice.  
  
"Yeah, well, what do I have to lose?" she found herself saying. It was true. And where did he get off calling her "little girl"?  
  
Riddick looked at her, that considering look, weighing her. Quite possibly weighing whether or not to kill her. Long seconds passed.  
  
"Okay," he said, still laughing at her, indulging her. He relaxed and stepped back from the sword's point, putting his knife away.  
  
Alex swallowed, wetting her dry throat. She had her composure back but for a moment she was unsure. The real test was yet to come. She put away her knife and the sword in one smooth movement, then turned her back on him and walking towards her bedroom door. This is it, Alex, she thought. Live or die? Not like you would have a particularly long life anyways, if he had betrayed you.  
  
But the strike did not come, and Alex kept walking. She walked through the doorway, and closed the door, leaning against it, her hands shaking, and casting her eyes around the room. The grey walls, so comfortingly neutral, now almost mocked her in their serenity. You must be absolutely crazy, she thought to herself. Fucking bonkers. Quite a gamble, that Riddick's desire to prove himself as adhering to the deal would overcome his desire to kill her. Maybe it was the shock at losing Jack. But at least now you know, it wasn't him. They must have found out some other way, through Jack's school, or something totally different. Alex sighed. Right now she just wanted to be alone, away from Riddick.  
  
She concentrated on the room. It was hers, but it seemed almost alien now, knowing that someone had used it to get to Jack. If they hadn't had that door between them, Jack would be safe. But then she questioned herself. Safe? Only safe enough to last a little bit longer inside a tiny room, they would eventually get to her. She sighed, and felt emotions repressed by anger rise up within her. She tried to push them away behind her walls, but the flame wouldn't come and burn them away. Suddenly, she felt anger flash within her, but at herself and her own stupidity. Why hadn't she pressed Jack about why she ran away? Why hadn't she been more careful? It was all the "should haves" that would do no good now but made her furious at herself. Alex had always felt that the only way she could ever make this life work is to do everything perfectly, and she had failed. That, combined with the loss of Jack, her only companion, cut her to the core. Jack was the only one who was there for her, and that she could trust. They didn't even need to speak, but had a silent mutual understanding that they would just be there for the other. Yes, Alex was the adult, and an authority figure, but Jack had her ways of comforting Alex, as well. Their little existence after the incredible trial on that planet had worked for them. But now it was gone.  
  
"Damn them," Alex whispered, a hot rage coursing through her. Those nameless mercenaries who had come into her home and taken Jack away from her. She had a sudden desire to destroy something, anything, to release the anger and make the hurt go away. Standing away from the door, she went over the shelving unit and used all her strength to push it down on the floor, where everything fell off of it in a clatter. Watching it fall, her sudden desire to stop it was stopped by the knowledge that things would never be the same. Alex's thoughts flashed back to when she had promised herself that she would never allow emotion to rule again, when her grief was all she had. Things were so much harder when you allowed yourself to feel.  
  
Walking over to the bed, she sat down on it. She only felt a little better. To her surprise she felt wetness on her face, then wiped away a tear she didn't even know had fallen with her sleeve. Dammit. This was no time for tears. Glancing around at the room, her eyes came to rest on the only picture she had in her possession. It was a framed pencil drawing that Jack had done, standing on the night table. Alex stretched her arm out and picked up the frame, gently, tenderly, and brought it back to her. Jack was quite a good artist, actually. The frame held a drawing of Jack, Imam, and Alex, clustered together, smiling against an abstract background. Jack had given it to Alex one day, shyly handing it to her, after Imam had left. It was only now that Alex could see in the background a faint figure, barely noticeable. Strange, how you never saw that before, she thought. But the figure was unquestionably a large, muscular man, seeming to look at the smiling faces. Riddick, she realized. Jack included him then in the "family" they had. Crazy kid, Alex thought. A ghost of a smile passed across her face, but only for a moment, to be replaced by the steely exterior she wore so often. Perhaps Riddick could still help her put that family back together. Of all people.  
  
Alex sat on her bed, now staring at the gray wall in front of her, contemplating. Yes. She could do it. There was no way she could let Jack go back to what she had desperately wanted to leave. She had already made some sort of a deal with Riddick, actually. It just needed to be changed a bit. The only thing now was that she had to make sure Riddick was willing to do it. If not, well she would just do it herself. Her mouth went a little dry at the prospect of asking him after what she had accused him of minutes before, and for a moment, considered staying in her room until just went away.  
  
Shaking her head, she forced herself to stand and briskly strode to the closet unit flinging open the doors. Pulling down a medium-sized satchel, she tossed it on the bed and pulled three shirts and three pairs of pants from their hangers, then three tank tops and a small sack of toiletries she kept there. Black, her favorite color, she thought wryly. Alex stuffed them all into the sack, and with plenty of room to spare she took down the three extra knives hanging on the weapons rack, slid them into their holders in the synth-leather weapons briefcase, and tossed that into the bag too. Looking up, she scanned the room, knowing that they could never come back here. She regretted leaving the books, but that could not be helped, and they lay on the floor where they had come to rest after she pulled over the shelves. One item her eyes came to, and she gently lifted the framed picture, removed the paper, and, folding it, put it into one of her vest pockets. Everything else, and there was not much of it, stayed there.  
  
Riddick had almost opened Alex's door when he heard a large crash coming from the room. Almost. Much wiser to leave her alone. By instinct, he had been infuriated when she put the knife to his throat. No one, no one, messed with Richard B. Riddick and lived. Half of his life had been spent in and out of prison, after he'd decided that all that military bullshit was not the life for him. No freedom. His reputation had always preceded him. He'd killed men for much less than what Alex, this girl, had said to him, but something always stayed his hand. Maybe it was that part of him that wanted to belong to this mysterious human race, but there were three people in this world he didn't mind being around, and like it or not, she was one of them. Every instinct inside of him, from all his previous experience, urged him to kill her. Kill all of them, and be done with it. It would be so easy, just a slice across the throat instead of threatening, instead of playing this damn game between them. There was some part of him that had stopped it, and left him staring at the door instead of kicking it down.  
  
It was to Riddick's great surprise that a scant few minutes later, the door swung open, and out strode the girl, cool as you like except for the slight stiffness to her walk. Probably a little on edge because of what had happened before. She walked past him without looking at him, into Jack's room. Peering around the corner he could see that she had stopped in the middle of it, looking around. But only for a moment. He could see her set her shoulders resolutely, and, with fists clenched in what was likely anger, she went over to the closet and threw it open. Riddick took two steps closer to the door, and for the first time he saw the wall of pictures that someone, presumably Jack, had drawn. Not for the first time he squinted, and then damned his shined eyes, as he couldn't see exactly what was in them. His eyes drifted back to Alex, who had her back to him but seemed to have selected some of Jack's clothing, and was stuffing it into her bag. He took a moment to appreciate the firm lines of her body, highlighted by the severe clothing she wore. But that was all. He had always only appreciated, never acted on it. The character of this girl, this Alex, was such that it had made him laugh to think of her reaction to that kind of advance. Probably try to skewer him on that big knife of hers. Like she had tried to do a while ago, came the sobering thought. They were alike, the two of them, he realized. Alienating everyone else, except a chosen few. And now that he'd made that deal, it solidified his thought of her as somewhat of a partner in it, not a weakling to dominate and leave in the lurch. But what now? She could only be leaving, somewhere she thought she'd see the kid again. Damn fool would be trying to take the kid back.  
  
"You goin' somewhere?" As always, his rumbling bass voice was almost neutral, but with a hint of amused scorn for the recipient.  
  
Alex turned to face him. Well, face his sunglasses.  
  
"Yes." She walked closer towards him. "I made a deal with you, Riddick, and I still want to keep to it  
  
"And if I don't?"  
  
"If you don't-" Alex paused, thinking for a moment how hard it would be if he didn't help her. He probably knew that already. "If you don't, you walk away, I find her myself," Alex finished.  
  
"Right after you tell someone I'm not dead, huh?" Riddick said with finality. That would be how he would have done it.  
  
As tempting as it might be to Alex to do that, it wasn't an option. She had, truth be told, a grudging sort of respect for Riddick, and when she had promised Carolyn she would take care of the rest of the survivors, ratting out Riddick would be going against that. She needed him. She just hoped that he couldn't see how desperate she was. But even if he didn't help her, it was just wrong to reinstate the price on his head.  
  
"No," she said. "I won't tell anyone."  
  
Alex looked up to see a look of half surprise and half disbelief on Riddick's face, before he noticed her watching and masked it. "Besides," she added, with a flippant grin it was hard to pull off, "if you found me once, you could find me again." A chilling truth. This realization that she could be so inept at a life of anonymity, even though she doubted that records existed for her anywhere.  
  
Again, she got that weighing look from Riddick. What else could she say to him? Did he really think that someone who had saved his life would turn around and tell mercs where to find him?  
  
A sudden thought came to her. She smoothly turned and reached under Jack's night table for the two knives she knew would be there. A thought stabbed at her that Jack hadn't even been able to get her knives before they took her. Pulling them out, she tossed them at Riddick.  
  
"Here," Alex said as he caught them, and held them at arm's length, "You can either give these back to her, or kill me with them if I sell you out." She paused. "For Jack?" She asked questionably. There was no way to deny that he didn't care about Jack, a convicted murderer on the run who somehow found time to find Imam, and find a woman and a girl in the Moltai Loku district.  
  
Riddick said nothing, but nodded and placed the two knives into his bag.  
  
"I have something I need to do first though," Alex said. "The Orchid. I need to talk to Josef." He nodded, seeming to already be calculating where they would go afterwards. Alex would ask him later.  
  
When Alex turned off the lights in the apartment for the last time and looked around with a sigh, she realized that she could never come back to this home, and would miss it. Thinking of Jack's face, she pushed away the sadness and concentrated on her resolve to find her. Joining Riddick in the hallway, she locked one bolt only, and then turned her back on it.  
  
As they stepped into the empty, dirty elevator, Alex could see Riddick looking at her sideways. She turned around to face the doors, flashing back to when she had been bringing him back here less than twelve hours ago, when everything was all right. Mostly. Now, she wouldn't have to worry about paying rent any more. Which gave her an absolutely wonderful idea.  
  
"How much does it cost to get a ship?" 


	6. The Journey Begins

Notes: The return! I am so very sorry it has taken me this long to update, but this summer has been incredibly busy for me with limited internet access. I'm going to get right on working on another chapter, and reviewing those of you whose stories I've been neglecting. Please review so I can get back into the swing of things with my writing! For those of you who've been waiting with baited breath, I hope this chapter's worth it.  
  
Chapter 6 The Journey Begins  
  
"Depends," Riddick answered Alex as they both stared at the silver doors of the descending elevator. He paused, giving her a calculating look. "For the purposes you're talking about, you'd need something that can be outfitted to go undetected and can slip in and out of places fast. We're talking at least fifty, probably more like seventy-five thou with a hyperdrive, unless you've got any contacts that can lower that."  
  
Alex nodded faintly, considering. Seventy-five thousand was a lot to her, but a great deal more than it would have been to her three hundred years ago. She could handle it. However, his last comment about any contacts got her thinking.  
  
"There is one possibility," she said but then slammed her mouth shut as the doors slid open, revealing a tall, dark-haired man of about twenty-five whose hair was slicked back against his head. Alex barely suppressed a groan at the sight of Nikolas, the resident manager who just happened to be the landlord's brother. She had been putting up with his unwanted advances for four months, and couldn't use any violent methods of persuasion because if she did, she would be kicked out onto the street. He was a dishonest slimeball that somehow thought he was society's gift to women, especially Alex. It made her glad that only one of the five bolts on the apartment was a key the resident manager had, as the other four had doubtless stopped Nikolas from entering whenever he wanted. She avoided him at all costs, but at times she ran into him and had to put up with him.  
  
"Heya baby," he said, putting on a smarmy sort of smile and placing his hand over the elevator door so it wouldn't close. "How you doin'? Haven't seen ya lately, I been thinking you should come up to my place and cook me dinner, then maybe I consider lowering your rent, eh?" He finished with a confident smirk, his voice dripping innuendo. Nikolas definitely was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either.  
  
Then Nikolas noticed how Riddick had stayed in the elevator instead of leaving, looking him over. "Hey you, you got a problem? The lady and I are talking here," he said, trying to sound menacing and looking over at Riddick.  
  
Alex could almost feel Riddick's amusement behind her. She automatically put on her 'tolerant' smile, and started to say something that would head him off as usual, but stopped. The thought came like a breath of fresh air. She didn't have to put up with Nikolas anymore. Her smile then changed to that of a cat about to pounce on the unknowing mouse.  
  
"Oh, he's with me, Nikolas." Her smile widened at his show of surprise. "In fact, I've decided it will no longer be necessary that I talk to you any more". With that, Alex ducked around to the other side of him and started to walk past.  
  
Nikolas' smile changed quickly into an angry sneer. "Now listen here, bitch," he started to say, turning and catching on to her wrist. Big mistake, Alex thought. She had been readying herself for this and quickly twisted her wrist and grabbed onto Nikolas', pinching it in a viselike grip as his eyes betrayed fear, and then anger. But Alex didn't wait to let him do anything, she quickly ducked under the arm and twisted his arm behind his back, getting behind him, and kicked behind his kneecaps with the side of her foot, forcing him to kneel as she twisted the arm even more as he cried out in pain and shock. Her other hand swiftly flourished the knife from her back sheath in front of his eyes, and then held it to his throat.  
  
"Now you listen, bitch," Alex growled, remembering all of the times he had harassed her. "You don't get to talk at me. You don't get to look at me. I hear from you again, and it won't matter who your brother is, there won't be enough left over for him to cry over." An empty threat, true, but it had worked because he was shaking.  
  
"Get down," Alex said, pushing him to the floor, face down. "Lay here and don't look up until you've counted to one thousand. I might stick around to see if you do. Got it?"  
  
It served two purposes. One was to make sure nobody knew where she was going, and two, to just scare the hell out of him. To Alex's guilty pleasure, Nikolas nodded and closed his eyes as he lay face down onto the floor. She almost snickered at the thought that he might not be able to count that high. Almost. The other half of her was scared witless at what she was doing.  
  
She had forgotten about Riddick. As Nikolas began counting, Alex slowly stood up and saw Riddick edge silently around the man on the floor, his face a mixture of a smirk and puzzlement. 'I bet you're dying to know what the hell that was about, Richard B. Riddick,' Alex thought to herself. It had felt quite satisfying to smack that asshole Nikolas around, but Alex quickly reined in that feeling before it made her overconfident and not cautious enough. Just because she could handle one semi-tough spur of the moment didn't mean she could handle them all. That was her key, to be cautious, and always have a plan. It brought her up a little short, that now she would have to allow for Riddick's plans as well as her own, but quickly began to calculate what sorts of stops they would possibly make in order to find Jack.  
  
The next step, though, was to somehow explain to Josef that he was losing one of his bartenders without having him go ballistic. He was a good man, Josef, just a trifle rough around the edges. More bark than bite, really, Alex thought to herself as she blinked walking out of the building. As she passed over its threshold for the last time, she almost paused to look back, but instead hefted her bags again and strode out purposefully towards the Black Orchid. Walking the streets she had so many times before, it came to her that she was pushing it all away, except for cold reasoning, or else the loss of Jack would be overwhelming. One little connection fostered into so much, and Alex knew that if she thought of Jack, or her deal with a convicted killer walking alongside her, it would be too much.  
  
"Just go with it," she muttered under her breath, not even audible for Riddick to hear. Christ, Riddick. Still a mystery, still untrustworthy, but would he keep to the deal? Twenty thousand creds, and access to a ship, was a lot to put on the table.  
  
She glanced at him as she made the first turn on the way to the Black Orchid. "I've got to talk to my boss, and he may be able to help us out to find a ship," Alex said, thinking of the few times the bar hadn't been busy and she had made small talk with Josef. When it was obvious he wasn't losing money by talking to her, he certainly liked to shoot the breeze. Alex hadn't given away a lot about herself, but had learned some things about Josef. "I'm not sure, but I think he used to be a highup in the freighter landing sector of the station," at this, Alex motioned to the ever-present satellite now visible in the eastern sky. Highlighted by light from the twin suns, the dim memories Alex had of the station was that its sterile gray environment blurred past her as she, Imam, and Jack were shuttled from one of the enormous cargo ships to the landing ship. It had felt so good to step foot on the ground after the voyage, even though it had only been a few weeks. She was meant to roam on the ground, not be cramped in some tiny cabin.  
  
Startled out of her reverie by Riddick's acknowledging, "Hm," tinged with disbelief, she started to back up her point. "He knows much more than most of the spacers that come into the bar who like to talk, and those are the real ship-hoppers." She swallowed. Yeah, real salt-of-the-earth types. More than a little rough around the edges, as she'd had to fight off a few who couldn't see past her chest.  
  
Riddick seemed slightly placated by that, his expression a little more smoothed. They turned down another street, so different in the daytime than the previous night. Alex pushed away the fatigue as she realized how little sleep she'd had, and how the caff was starting to wear off.  
  
"I also need to ask your.boss.where the nearest untraceable netlab is, unless you know?" Riddick drawled, a bit sarcastic at the end but he seemed to preoccupied to insult her further. Hopefully he, like Alex, had a mind swirling with possibilities and plans, but he knew what he was doing.  
  
Alex shook her head, again it stinging her that there was something she couldn't be proficient in. Yet. "No, I don't. I used to know-" she trailed off, terrified that she had almost admitted to something from her previous life, where she had known computer systems like the back of her hand. "I don't," she finished more harshly. "I'll pick up stuff quick, but I don't know these systems."  
  
He nodded thoughtfully in reply. Alex bit the inside of her cheek, hopefully unnoticed. How could she have slipped like that, letting Riddick, of all people, in on her biggest secret and what she fought hard to lock away? It did cross her mind, an interesting mental note, that this was quite possibly the first time they had exchanged more than a few words without each carefully considering what was said. Almost like they were true partners in this deal. Alex filed that away for later.  
  
In what seemed no time at all she turned down the side street and passed the Orchid's now unlit sign and locked double door with a harshly outlined black flower on the front. Josef was always there early in the day to keep the books honest, and so she swung down the alley to the back door. Thankfully the back door was fairly close to the entrance of the alley, for further down the refuse got so thick that the almost cat-sized rats didn't bother skittering out of the way for humans. Getting out her key "for emergencies", she knocked once, then inserted it in the lock and hit the entry code into the keypad. The door's security system clicked off, and Alex opened the door onto the surprisingly clean back hallway. Josef was always one for cleanliness, and the Orchid, though dark, was usually very clean.  
  
Ty, as usual, the bar owner's shadow, hastily got up from where he had been reading a paper on the stool next to the door. Quite possibly larger than Riddick, he was an ex-miner on the ore deposits which had made Moltai into the hub it was today. His bulk, mostly muscle, made him certainly no one to be trifled with, but Ty was something of a softie, especially for Jack's bubbly personality. More than a few times Jack and Ty had played poker in the weekend afternoons when Alex had to work early.  
  
"Hey there, Ty," Alex said with a tense smile. She watched his one glance take in her bags as he smiled back, and then his gaze shifted to Riddick, who was wisely waiting outside of the door. It was almost funny to see the two of them size each other up. Men, Alex mentally sighed.  
  
"He's with me," Alex said, causing Ty to look back at her and wave Riddick in, all business. "Josef in the office?"  
  
"Yah," he muttered in a voice raspy from ore dust as he made way for Alex and Riddick to enter, then shut the door, temporarily blinding Alex as she got used to the dimmer light. "He's in a good mood, brought in a lot last night." He nodded his head at her bags. "You on your way to the combat gym? Where's the kid?"  
  
The sudden reminder hit Alex in the stomach, but she grit her teeth and tried to make the feeling pass. "Why don't you come in with me to talk to Josef?" she said quickly to cover it. "Isn't like the alarm won't go off if someone jimmies the lock."  
  
Ty might have seemed like a big dumb ox, but he wasn't, and was definitely perceptive. Concern briefly flashed in his eyes, but for what, Alex wasn't sure.  
  
"Yeh, sure," he said. "He comin' too?"  
  
Alex nodded, then inclined her head for Riddick to follow and went down the hallway to the tan office door. The first door required a key-entry, which Ty supplied, going in first and announcing that Alex was there. Josef was shutting the door to the second room, his money room, as Alex stepped through the door. He looked up and smiled with a glint in his eye, which disappeared in an instant as he saw the big man behind her. When she was on the clock, he was all business and let her take care of herself, as he found out she could do with no problems. But increasingly, she had seen that in the private sector, he had become more friendly and seemed to think it his responsibility to look after her and Jack. It was really only because of this that she had come to the Orchid one last time, and dared ask him for the little help he might give.  
  
The grin was back on his grizzled, hardened face, but a little forced, and his hand strayed near his hip where the stunner lay at all times. "Alex, m'dear, to what do I owe this? I've just been totaling up yesterday's take, excellent, excellent. Who's yer friend?" the question dropped. With it came all sorts of overtones, even an offer of help, if he was a threat, an attempt to assess the situation.  
  
Which really only served to piss her off. What was it about men that made them assume a female, even one equipped with a sword and four known knives about her person, was unable to fend for herself? She almost sighed, reminded herself she was about to quit a good job with a boss she almost considered a friend, and resolved herself to explain the situation.  
  
"This is an acquaintance from off-planet," she began, letting Josef and Ty know that he was not necessarily a friend, but no enemy, and not from Moltai so he was not a Loku tough with something over her. She paused a minute, fumbling for the name Riddick had given her this morning as what he went by. "Josef, Ty, meet Kale Resta." Thankfully, she had not tripped over her own tongue.  
  
Riddick nodded in greeting at the other two men. Josef went behind his desk and motioned for her to sit on the small overstuffed sofa across from it. Ty tried to be unobtrusive and get a glass of water from the pitcher on a table behind the desk so he was behind and slightly to the side of his boss. Bodyguard in many respects. Alex had often wondered what exactly Ty had done before mining, perhaps participated in the Freighter Wars she had read about between factions and the United Coalition's army. Earth's Governing Council's reach became strained this far out.  
  
Alex took a deep breath before beginning. She had thought about exactly how much to divulge on the walk over, and thought that she had come up with just enough truth to allow. These two were, after all, the only two besides Jack and Imam she had some modicum of trust in.  
  
"Kale brought to my attention a serious matter involving my stay here, and it has now become apparent that I must, unfortunately, leave Moltai to pursue that. I am so very sorry, Josef," she added. Her face had unknowingly broke into a very genuine, pained expression which stopped her now ex-boss from breaking into a tirade and consider what was going on with his most successful bartender to date. "I can't tell you exactly what because you should not become involved with these people, but I can tell you that I must leave as soon as possible." There. Her tiny speech was out.  
  
Josef let a low breath whistle through his teeth. That one slip her facial expression had made in a woman who never let emotion show gave him a clue as to the cause. The bags they both carried, three of them for two people.  
  
"What about the kid?"  
  
Her reaction to that confirmed his questions. Josef Kiwana prided himself on being able to read other people, especially his own employees, and had seen the cold, frigid ice-queen Alex Bennet warm up because of one thing-- the kid which she protected and which looked up to her with adoration in her eyes. Everything dropped away when he asked about Jack and he saw naked pain in her face.  
  
Alex's eyes looked at the floor, seeming to compose herself. "They took her," she said in a low, husky voice.  
  
Josef leaned back in his chair and Alex brought her eyes back up to meet his. Now the green eyes stared at him with a sadness hardening to anger. The big man standing near the door, this Resta, was watching him closely for a reaction after this news had come to light. If Kale Resta was his real name the Josef was a fish. From the man's stance and clothing, the glasses he wore even inside, probably an ex-con or someone with a reason to see in the dark. Killer, that one, he thought to himself, having seen the type a hundred times before. Josef had no idea why he was helping out this strange pair, man like that kept to himself. But if he was on Alex's side she'd be taken well care of. And at the mention of the kid, Resta had shifted uncomfortably himself. Cared about the kid, too, did he? Yes, Alex had a good partner working with her.  
  
"Goin' after her then?" he asked, knowing the answer.  
  
It was the question Alex had hoped for, because she had suspected for a long time that Josef had known how deeply attached she was to Jack, and if he understood what it meant to lose her, it wouldn't matter quite as much that she was leaving. She nodded, and fingered the sword she had put down when she sat to calm herself. A hunch that she had about Josef had paid off, and her employer for almost a year was willing to be not her employer but her friend.  
  
"I know I'm leaving you in the lurch, and I apologize," she murmured. "But there is one more favor I have to ask you. There is a need to go offplanet in a ship which Mr. Resta will be piloting and I will be purchasing, and I was hoping you could give me a few names down at the station docks"  
  
Now there was a surprise to Josef. This acquaintance of hers was getting more interesting by the minute. How she came to be mixed up with him, he might not ever know, but a pilot? And where the hell was she going to get enough credits for a ship? She didn't make that much serving drinks. One big mystery, but from her expression and what he knew of her, she wasn't going to let anything get in her way or explain more than she had to. Oh well, best help her out like he had planned to once she said she was leaving. Funny thing, that, but she was the only one in a long string of workers that had struck a chord with him, sort of like a daughter he hadn't had.  
  
"Yeah, I can give you some names. Fred Towa's probably the best one, he deals in small but decked-out ships and if you mention my name, my full name, mind, then he'll cut you a deal." He smiled at her, sad to be losing her. You don't know what you have until it's gone, he thought.  
  
Her companion spoke up for the first time, and his rumbling bass sent a shiver down the hardened man's spine. "I also need the location of a untraceable netlab," he said, in a voice that said he was accustomed to getting what he wanted. A dangerous man, the very air around him crackled when he spoke. "She says you would know where that is."  
  
Surprisingly, it was Ty who quickly spoke up. Damn man had always had a bit of a hope that Alex'd warm up to him a little, but he sure had a spot for that kid in his heart. "I can tell ya," he said, "but it's costly 'less you're a regular." Josef had turned to see a bit of an angry expression on his bouncer's face, but an eagerness to help. He seemed slow and stupid, but was faster than Josef on the 'net and had shown Jack a few tricks when Alex didn't know. "Tell 'em Ty Mercado sent you, pass number 8744, and they won't rob ya blind. It's 41756 109th street, 'Lex, remember the old parts shop next to the abandoned warehouse?" When Alex nodded, he continued, "You go get her, 'Lex," more forcefully than he intended.  
  
Resta seemed surprised with the quick offer of assistance and pass number, and nodded slowly, as if half considering, half mentally filing away the name and number.  
  
"Thank you both," Alex spoke up. "I can't compensate you in any way, and I'm not sure I'll see you, but I'll try my best to bring her back to see you sometime," she said, shocked by the reactions they had both had and the help they were prepared to offer. Maybe more than "almost" friends, she thought. Too much had she been cold to everyone else.  
  
"Looked like the 'tender's a bit bored over at the Nightflower, by the way," Alex said as if in passing, remembering the expression on the bartender's face when she and Riddick had gone in for caff, just a few hours earlier. "Might want to come over here instead of serving caff in the god-awful hours of the morning." A slow smile spread on her face, though she didn't really feel happy, she felt better than she had all day. She stood, and Josef rose and moved around his desk to meet her.  
  
"Good bye, Josef," she said, extending out a hand to shake his. He took it, then pulled her towards him and gave her the last thing she expected in the world-a hug.  
  
"You take care of yourself, girl," the older man muttered into her ear, then let her go.  
  
A strange look passed across Alex's face, and then she smiled the first real smile she had in a long time. It lit up her face like a Christmas tree, totally changing her face, softening it and letting the cares drop away. It was beautiful to see for Josef, her finally letting herself be happy.  
  
"I will, Josef. Ty." She said, nodding at the both of them in turn. "I can let us out okay." And with that she turned and opened the door, walking past Resta and into the hallway.  
  
"Take care of her, Kale Resta," Ty told the man, the yearning look in his eyes all too apparent to Josef who had known her for years. But Josef had known that Ty would probably not have her. Not that one. Resta, silently as ever, nodded and followed the girl in black out the door.  
  
As the office door closed behind the both of him, Josef walked over to the couch and sunk into it as Ty leaned against the desk.  
  
"Well," Josef started. "Want to go on over to the Nightflower and try and wrestle away one bartender for tonight?" Josef smiled and shook his head. "What a pair, my friend, what a pair." 


	7. Friends in Unexpected Places

Notes: Here's the next, much-belated chapter. Life, it seems, is throwing every sort of obstacle in my way so that I don't have time for my story! Sorry, everyone out there. Abraxis, my solo reviewer, thank you for your kind words. Everyone else who reads, all 3(?) of you.please review!  
  
Chapter 7  
  
A rodent skittered across the alley as Alex led Riddick to where Ty had directed her to go. Not a rat, really, but the Loku variant of them. These didn't get quite as big as cats, as some sewer rats had been known to be, but came very close. It was a mark of how neglected this neighborhood was, for the vermin of the city to wander around so freely. But also a measure of how inconspicuous any establishment might be. In a district of the city that already allowed criminals to roam free, where the law might as well not exist, the truly anonymous could go about their business at will.  
  
It had taken well over an hour to get to their destination by foot, and keeping in mind that there might be a merc or two still around made it foolish to go by any other route. It was a marvelous city, really. Full of the dirt and grit and criminal, but also, as Alex had found herself musing on the walk over, full of people who would stick their necks out for you. The affection that she had to admit both of the men had for her and Jack not only surprised her, but it threatened to break through the wall she had once again created to lock emotions away. She and Riddick had both been preoccupied while walking over to the other side of the Loku district, and said little.  
  
Alex turned the corner and walked out of the alley into a little better lighted 109th street. A massive building took up most of the block, the old warehouse, which had most probably housed the materials for fabrication of the buildings surrounding them. It was in the oldest part of the Loku district, and actually one of the oldest parts of the city. This close to the spaceport, the whine of transports taking off on their way to the satellite station was almost a constant din. Walking the length of the block, Alex came up to a lighted neon sign, which said "Parts: Buy, Sell, or Trade" above another which said "We Sell All Varieties." The outside windows of the shop were dirty and covered at all times by a metal mesh. Few shops were without it.  
  
"This is it," Alex said, turning around to see Riddick warily examining the street around them. His eyes were hidden behind his dark glasses, but his head kept twitching as if he were scrutinizing everything as quickly as possible. "This is where Ty said to come."  
  
At the mention of Ty's name, a casual smirk set on Riddick's face. "Ah yes, he was so very sad to see you leave," he said, almost sneering.  
  
That touched off Alex's already short fuse. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? He's a good guy, took care of Jack a couple times, showed her net stuff. He's emotional about Jack." What else could Riddick mean? He didn't think.her and Ty?! That thought stopped her in her mental tracks. She took a quick mental runthrough of how he had been with her.  
  
"No," she let out before she realized she was thinking aloud. But it was there. He had liked Jack, for sure, but had always tried to help Alex out especially. Shit. Double shit. There was no way she would ever, ever think of any man as anything more than a business relationship or a friend. So what if she hadn't noticed Ty. As her eyes flashed back at Riddick, she saw that laughing look on his face. Damn him. Always thought everything was a big fucking joke. It seemed like all she could feel right now was anger, and it was coming in waves. It must have showed on her face because she saw a flicker in Riddick's smile, but then she snapped her head back towards the door and entered the parts shop. As she stepped through it fell on her again why she was there. Jack. It only made her sad, and that made her angry. However, seeing as how she had to get into this netlab for Riddick to find the Tumioni location, she put anger aside and adopted her "nice" face.  
  
As the door swung shut, a few miserable fluorescent bulbs illuminated the dirty floor, and long, barely organized shelves revealing everything one could possibly want to buy at an electronics part store. Alex scanned the room, deciding to ignore Riddick for the moment. Thankfully, there was no one visible in the large shop except the cashier, who was located at the middle of the shop. A tired-looking woman with dyed blonde hair, looking about in her forties, sat at the counter, her head instantly coming up when Alex and Riddick entered the shop and given them a look which almost went right through them. Seemingly satisfied, she went back to the computer in front of her.  
  
Alex walked carefully to the counter. Carefully, because sometimes if you approached a counter too quickly without looking at anything in the store, you'd get a gun in the face without being able to explain that you weren't there to rob them. As she reached the counter, the woman glanced back up at her, with wary eyes.  
  
"Help ya, hon?" the woman asked, shifting in her gray robes which hid a considerable bulk. Her face looked tired, but her eyes were sharp. Not some mindless secretary.  
  
Alex smiled. "Yeah, I understand that you have net facilities here. I would like to purchase time, please, for two," she said, looking straight into the woman's eyes with her hands on top of the counter in full view. Definitely for two. There was no way she was going to sit by and let Riddick do all the work, even if she could barely make her way around the systems.  
  
The woman shifted in her seat, sighing. "Oh, yeah sure, but it'll cost ya up front. Fifty an hour." She examined her nail polish, looking bored.  
  
"I want high untraceability, and I want it at the regular's price. Ty Mercado told me you'd give me that." Alex said it in a no-nonsense tone of voice. She could almost feel Riddick tensing behind her. That was also a fighting tone of voice. But if Alex was right about Ty's reputation, they wouldn't have to worry. She was right.  
  
Instantly the entire attitude of the woman changed. A half smile softened her features, giving a hint of how beautiful she might have been in years past. "Oh, Mercado sent you? Then you're okay, honey, it'll be half that for the two of ya." She pushed away from the desk almost cheerfully and made her way to the back of the store. "He hasn't been in here lately, last time he was with a little kid. Girl, she was, him and her were here for quite some time. Tell him hi from Taff, when you see him, for me?"  
  
Alex nodded, considering that information. Huh. So Jack had not learned all the netrunning on her own. Interesting. She started to get irked at Ty, but then let it go. It was probably for the best that Jack had learned that, because they would have to be on the run for quite some time after this. If they found her. When they found her.  
  
Riddick followed Alex and the frighteningly large woman towards the back of the store. It looked safe enough, and this Ty fellow had certainly not seemed like the type who would sell them out. Unfortunately, if Alex trusted them, he would have to trust them by default. It had given him a little bit of a laugh, to see how she had finally realized the big guy was soft on her. She could really be an icy bitch sometimes. And yet, her reaction to Jack going missing had let him see some depth of feeling in her. She wasn't all bad, and didn't talk to him hardly at all. Like Jack did, running on and on like she had a tendency to do. A swirl of anger rose in him, at what the mercs might be doing to that kid right now. She'd been able to take the nightmare of that planet, she could certainly take this. It didn't help, to think of her being frightened and him being stuck trying to find out where she was.  
  
The door at the back of the store opened by keycard and fingerprint identification. A long corridor with several stairways led off of it, and they walked to the end to see a large glass window looking down on a huge room, what must be the warehouse next door, filled with terminals. They swung a left and faced a door with a keypad.  
  
"Did he give you his passcode, dearie?" The blonde woman asked Alex. He saw the ever so slight tightening of her shoulders at the "dearie", but she kept her mouth shut and nodded. "Enter it here, then, and Ray will take care of the payment when you're done. These are the highest security, so you can do damn near anything on them. Ta-ta."  
  
What an odd woman. She played dumb, but there was a real intelligence behind her eyes. Not something he would have seen normally. It was part of the attitude of netrunners. That woman was probably more experienced that he was, and if they showed a hint of trouble, she'd have been the first line of defense. Interesting. Alex entered the code and the door opened silently.  
  
Alex had stepped aside as soon as they were through, leaving Riddick to go first. Finally, he thought, tired of having to follow her every which way. A skinny, balding man sat at the desk in front of them, nervously glancing at his screen and calling up information on it.  
  
"Using Ty Mercado's passcode? Satisfactory. He usually uses tightest security, which are in that corner there," he muttered in a nasal voice, gesturing to the corner to their left. About twenty terminals lay in rows behind his desk, most separated into carrels, allowing privacy. The hum of the terminals was punctuated by the only three other people there, who sat intensely glued to the screens. "The understanding is that we will have no knowledge of your activities, and the history will be deleted every five minutes. Please proceed." The man dismissed them, turning back to his screen.  
  
Riddick sat in the terminal closest to the corner, so he could see the entire room. A peremptory glance at the other patrons revealed no threats, and all had not even looked up when the door opened. Alex sat in the carrel next to him, staring at the screen as if it were alien. He had wondered at the request for two terminals, as he got the impression that she wasn't proficient on the systems. At all. He wasn't surprised, given what he had overheard that long time ago on the planet.  
  
'I'm three hundred and twenty-four years old,' she had told the holy man, relating the story to him with tears in her eyes. Who would make up a story like that? No, it had to be true. Weird, fucked up, but definitely true. She didn't know he had overheard, she tried to act like a tough who had grown up in the streets all her life. But there were moments, when she was a little too formal, a little too hesitant, at times. It wasn't as noticeable, now. Her "old" life was probably a distant memory she tried to forget. But she intrigued him. And was now a business partner who was going to let him fly a ship again.  
  
He set down to trying to find Jack. Database and codecracking, simple stuff first. After five minutes, he noticed that Alex had not been typing, but leaning back in her chair, watching his screen. He kept typing, trying to see where she was going with it. Suddenly, her eyes widened, recognition behind them, and she almost leaped to her terminal and started typing as rapidly as he was. It only caused a moment of concern, and then he bent back to the task at hand. He'd find out what that was, but later. After he found the kid.  
  
Thirty minutes later, he took his fingers off the keys and leaned back in his chair. It would not be easy. The Tumioni stronghold was on the highly populated Vega 4, and they were essentially the only form of government in control. He had intercepted an unwisely-sent communication from some merc group going only under the name "Silver Nine" which had stated that they acquired the target at exactly the time which Jack had been taken, and were proceeding to agreed-upon coordinates. Those coordinates could be anywhere else, but he was absolutely sure it was Vega 4. He had cracked into the landing permissions at the Tumioni flight station (a difficult thing, to be sure) and found an open invitation for "Silver Nine" to arrive within the week. He started calculating. Definitely they needed hyper capabilities, and something as incognito as possible. Whoever this contact of Josef's was, if he was affiliated with the Loku crowd then he might have what they needed.  
  
He leaned back into his chair to peer at Alex, who was hunched over her screen and typing quickly.  
  
"Vega 4, within the week," he said in a low voice.  
  
She gave no indication that she had heard except a nod, and then exited out of the program to leave a blank screen. The hint of a smile was on her face, clearly pleased. "That was educational," she muttered as if to herself, and then nodded and turned to him.  
  
Educational? She spends half an hour on a terminal and it's educational? What was she doing, learning to crack a database in that amount of time, with no previous knowledge? But she didn't say another word, and the unreadable steely face was back.  
  
"Vega." She said derisively. "Okay then."  
  
Pushing away her chair, she went towards the desk, and he had no choice but to follow her. The nervous man gulped as Riddick came up behind the girl, but accepted her payment of 25 creds and waved them to the exit, a door which led out to a completely different side street. At the head of it was a fairly main avenue.  
  
Alex turned to him. "Ready to get a ship?" she asked.  
  
He nodded, and walked alongside her until they reached the main street. She paused, and then turned to the right. Towards the shipyards, next to the station, he remembered from his arrival.  
  
Alex tried not to look as unsure as she felt, walking towards the shipyards. She had no idea how to bargain for a ship, even with Josef's contact, they would have to try and bring the price down. Hell, she had no idea what they needed. It bothered her, to place herself entirely in Riddick's hands; but then again, he was her partner now, and there would be no piloting for him if he did not have her to buy the ship. How tenuous was their connection? The poking around on the terminals she had done was very elementary, but five minutes of watching Riddick had completely opened her eyes as to how it was done, and how similar yet different the systems were to what she had grown up with. Yes, she could learn that from him. She would need to learn, so that she could protect herself and Jack when they would have to find a new home.  
  
The dirty, shabby buildings of the Loku district gave way slowly to the whiter, better-built buildings of the Transport district. Transport district included the shipyards, the spaceport, very few residential areas for wealthy merchants, and the guildhouses of the shipping trades. It was an ancient word, "guild", but it fit the various trades quite well. "Apprentices" from outlying areas would come to the great cities, to learn all they could before becoming employed on a ship. There was also a United Coalition garrison on the outer edges, which held order in this district only, just as it was the only form of law up on the orbiting space station.  
  
Alex had tried to memorize the map of the surrounding areas, but her memory was a bit patchy. To her relief, the enormous gray plasmetal hangars of the ship-sellers were visible to her right, highlighted by the second sun. This was no time to be stepping unsurely. As they walked towards the hangars, the buildings grew farther between, exposing them to the bright light provided by the twin suns. It had been awhile since Alex had been exposed to it, usually walking in shadows of buildings or at night. Her eyes squinted as she fumbled for her sunglasses, and she put them on with a sigh. No fancy light filters, these, she thought, remembering what she had once had to help her see. Just plain plastic. It kept the others on the street from seeing the emotion in her eyes, this total severing of her old life. Again. The bags she wore on her back seemed heavier, as if she were carrying not just clothes, but everything that she had built up on this planet. No longer was it a home, not if Jack wasn't there.  
  
They reached the gate to the main hangar, and Alex consulted the directory for this Fred Towa. Ah, there it was. Hangar section 1C. But where was that? Alex had reached the end of her, admittedly, small bank of knowledge regarding the city. She tried looking at Riddick out of the corner of her eye, and realized that the moment's pause she had taken trying to figure out where section 1C was located was all he needed to take off in that direction. Clenching her fists, she followed him at the same easy saunter she had adopted on the walk over. What, did he think he would gain an introduction to this Towa fellow without knowing someone, like she did? Not like she would hurry her pace just for him to have the satisfaction of knowing it made her angry.  
  
The hangar was full of people this time of day. A main atrium was surrounded by platformed floors, which went up and up and up. Small drones flew high above the crowd from seller to seller. People bustled on and off of simple escalators between the floors, everyone ranging from what seemed to be the scruffiest dregs of society to some even wearing the brightly- colored guildmaster robes. Most were, however, garbed in the grays and blacks of the spacers. Thankfully, neither Riddick nor Alex stuck out, like they might have in the other parts of the Transport district where whites and bright colors were a mark of station.  
  
Each seller had his or her own entrance, leaving the floors without any ships actually visible but only a myriad of doors. As Alex slowed to where Riddick had stopped in front of one of them, she realized that Fred Towa must be quite a prosperous seller indeed. His section was huge, almost half of the floor was devoted to his storefront. Seeing as how Riddick had not paused for her earlier, she went straight past him and through the door.  
  
It entered into a large, neat room, with photos of ships on the wall and chairs lined up below them, as sort of a waiting room. One third of the chairs were full. A man sat at a windowed desk at the end of the chairs. Alex had sized up the situation as she walked in, and went briskly to the man at the desk.  
  
He looked up at her, his eyes going to the side where Riddick must be. "Yes?"  
  
"My name is Alex Bennet, I'm here to see Fred Towa as soon as possible. I was told to say that Josef Kiwana sent me here."  
  
The clerk's face brightened at her name. "Ah yes, Miss Bennet and business partner. Mr. Towa has been expecting you. Please step over to the door."  
  
He indicated the double set of doors which were to their right, which were opening as he had presumably pressed the clearance code. Alex glanced at the other people waiting in the room, who sent both her and Riddick angry, yet wondering glances, that they should be admitted immediately.  
  
Alex turned her attention back to the doors. As she walked through them, she came into an immense space which was filled with neatly organized ships. Mostly small, each one was still as large as a house, all gleaming. Alex had seen ships together before, but to see all of these sleek, new- looking models, took her breath away for a bit.  
  
"Alex Bennet!" A voice called from her left. Alex spun, to see a tall, graying man walking towards her and Riddick from a large, plasti-glassed-in office, a large smile on his face.  
  
He reached them quickly, and his smile was contagious. He put out his hand. "Fred Towa. Josef's just called me."  
  
Alex smiled in return. "Alex Bennet. My partner, Kale Resta," she said, indicating Riddick, and this time she didn't trip over the name. Fred shook both of their hands. It seemed a strange gesture to Riddick.  
  
Fred turned back to Alex. "You're lucky, Josef thinks very highly of you. He and I have known each other for years, and it's only every once in awhile that he bestows his good opinion on someone. He told me to take care of ya." He finished with a wink, like some benevolent giant.  
  
A warm feeling started to grow in Alex's stomach. Josef thought highly of her? Well.  
  
"Thank you, Mr. Toma," she said with a smile. He immediately insisted she call him Fred. "Fred, then. Josef has probably already told you, then, we need a ship as soon as possible?"  
  
"Yah, he did mention that a bit. What did you have in mind?"  
  
"Actually, Kale is authorized to bargain for all specifications," she said, giving Riddick a meaningful look. Best not to reveal that she was only the money, not the know-how in this deal. "I trust him," she said, and almost did trip over that. Trust Riddick, woman, are you mad? But they were in this together, and had been fine so far. Even Riddick seemed surprised at that. You better not fuck it up, Richard B. Riddick, Alex thought.  
  
"Excellent," Fred put in, his attention turning to Riddick, all businessman. "What can I get for you, Kale?" Riddick cleared his throat, and went off on such a tirade of specifications that Alex just had to tune it out. Fred fired back questions and comments. This was one thing she was definitely not well-versed in. It's hard to learn a new technology from scratch, and there was nothing like this which she could have applied from her old life. The only thing she could have possibly thought of was cars. It was a shame that cars had gone down the wayside, she loved to drive. She had bought her own cars, then. But she had plans for learning about this ship, and how to fly it. After all, it would be hers.  
  
After fifteen minutes of glancing around the hangar, it seemed like agreements had reached a conclusion. Alex came back over to the two of them from where she had been looking at the nearest ships.  
  
"I've just the thing, it's over in supplementary hangar, I'll take you to it," Fred said. "Actually it's been sorta a labor of love, trying to see what we could get in it, but I think you'll find it's satisfactory." A wide grin broke out on his face. "I must say, Alex, your partner here knows what he wants and won't budge an inch. C'mon, hop into the cart, here, and I'll take you to see it."  
  
He walked over to the golf-cart sized skimmer which had enough room for about six people, and started it up. Alex and Riddick got in, and Fred immediately took off, taking what seemed a breathtaking pace around the other ships in the hangar and the salesmen and clients looking at them. They came out the other end into the bright sunlight, and then almost immediately stopped at a much smaller, but still sizeable hangar. Fred pressed a com button, and the door to the supplemental hangar opened.  
  
"This is where we keep our 'specials' ya might say," Fred told them, winking. What a jolly sort of man, Alex mused. Much like Josef, actually. How lucky that she had found such connections in the scrub of a city. "The ones we don't want UC to know all the specs for," Fred added, almost to himself.  
  
The individual ships were separated by large curtains, so that they went past a few without seeing all of the others together. They stopped at a closed curtain.  
  
"Ah, we're here," Fred turned off the skimmer and hopped out, walking quickly over to what was probably the curtain control box. He pressed a button and the curtain began to part. "Here she is."  
  
********  
  
Alfonso Roberto Tumioni, III, sat in the grand gilded chair, alongside his wife, Francesca Pitarra, in the beautiful, marble-encased room which had held in audience four generations of Tumioni. He reveled in his power, and in the luxury which he lived. As he sat in the position of power, awaiting the next minor family to seek his audience, he thought himself much akin to the kings of far-off Earth, an ultimate ruler. A ruler over his commerce, and over his family. His word was as good as law, and at times, more binding than that of the United Coalition. Francesca smiled at him, the smile of a wife who knows she is a queen, not only to her husband but to her underlings as well. The house of Tumioni had grown only more prosperous as the years progressed, causing his father's father to forgo the austere, clean lines of the modern architecture. Instead, he surrounded himself with rich metals and stones that were rarities on earth and on Vega 4. Only the best for the best.  
  
The clicks of heels on the marble floor announced the entrance of his butler, a man who had served his father and served Alfonso now. He stopped just to the side of the great door, and bowed. Francesca had always liked the bowing.  
  
"My lord and lady Tumioni, your clerk has had the most exciting news. May I present him?" The butler said in a fawning voice. At Alfonso's nod, the butler waved in Tomas Partido, Alfonso's most trusted clerk for years.  
  
"My lord and lady, it is my pleasure to tell you that your daughter, Natelle Jaqueline Tumioni, has been found this morning and is, at this very moment, on her way here under the guidance of the Silver Nine group. It is expected she will arrive within the week." At this, Tomas bowed.  
  
Alfonso turned to his wife, waving a dismissive hand at Tomas. His face was that of a cat who had caught the fattest mouse. "Well my wife, our wayward child is returning to us at last. I do believe she will be more willing to stay with us this time."  
  
Francesca's smile could have chilled ice. "Oh yes, my dear, depend upon it." 


	8. The Anubis

Notes: Sorry this chapter took so long, I wasn't quite happy with it and kept messing around with it. Please read and enjoy. I'd really like it if you readers out there reviewed. Please? I am by far not a perfect writer, and I'd appreciate the feedback. I hope you all like the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 8 Anubis  
  
The dividing curtains parted with a soft hiss, revealing a beautiful example of modern mechanical wonders. Only a luxurious vessel like this would have an outer coat of paint that mattered, and it was a gleaming dark gray, almost black. The sleek, smooth lines of the ship were accented by the silvery reflection of the lights. It was beautiful. The large engines at the back fit perfectly into the elliptical shape, enhancing it, not disrupting it. Overall, it was smaller than many transgalaxial ships, but still large enough to be considered spacious. Alex couldn't wait to see the inside, and even though she had extremely limited experience with today's space travel technology, see what it had to offer.  
  
All of the anger, all of the negativity she had been holding inside all day was cut through, for a moment, by the giddiness of a young girl. 'This is mine,' she thought to herself, realizing only now what "buying a ship" meant. It was like the first time she had bought a car, so long ago, only this was beyond any expectations she had.  
  
"You want to see inside?" Fred asked, breaking the silence.  
  
Alex merely smiled at him in return.  
  
"C'mon then." He entered a code into the computer touch screen which caused the cargo ramp, at the rear of the ship, to lower. As Fred led Riddick and Alex towards it, he kept describing the specifications.  
  
"This here is the cargo ramp. Originally we designed this one with.ahem.discreet shipments in mind," at this he grinned, almost like a boy who knew he was in trouble, "and there's a significant cargo hold on the lower level. Three, actually. This ramp takes us into the ship between them. It's got two main levels, and one atrium level, very shallow, for hydroponics. It's designed to be both a long and short term vessel, just in case. Lights!"  
  
The ramp led up between the two engine ports, revealing a neutral, plain- looking hallway, with lights which were progressively turning on immediately after Fred had shouted the command. When they stepped on to the ship, ahead and to the right and left were large cargo doors, shut.  
  
"We're walking between the two engine rooms right now," Fred told them. "They're divided, so each one is small, but there's a separate hyper in each one. 'S amazing what the newest technologies are getting at."  
  
They passed the engine rooms, and the two cargo holds, to come out into a two-story opening with a staircase leading upwards. To the left, another hallway led to the docking port. On the opposite side of the stairs were two more rooms, sealed. One was labeled "Training Room", the other, "Cargo hold 3."  
  
Fred waved at the door labeled "Training Room." "Pretty standard fitness room, really, but big enough to be comfortable. We'll go up these stairs here to the main level." Indeed, though the ship was not enormous, it certainly seemed so once you were inside. More than comfortable. How was she going to pay for it? It had to be more than she was willing to spend, it just had to be.  
  
The stairs, tastefully designed yet not too artsy, led upwards to the main deck. As Alex ascended, her breath caught at the simple beauty of the main level. It felt.right. The stairs brought them to a large open mess and reclining area, complete with what looked suspiciously like comfortable couches. It was all in pleasant, yet neutral blues and grays, pleasing to the psyche. The stairs kept climbing, but they stayed on the main level.  
  
Fred turned around to look at Alex. "Main deck, m'dear. Mess stocked with luxury food synthesizer-makes anything you'd ever like to eat. The living quarters are contained in the back half of the ship, four of them, those doors you see there." Alex took in the living quarters, one of whose doors was open to reveal a comforting-looking, large room.  
  
"The other half is all business, I'll show you all that first," Fred started rubbing his hands together. "To the left, next to the last living quarter there, is the VR-net lab. It's a little small, but the antenna we got on this ship's encoded with some pretty high security, but if you feel the need to make your own adjustments, please do. Memory's pretty high on all of the simulations you have on the ship, for some reason the boys working on it decided to put all sorts of stuff on there," He shook his head, chuckling. "Over on the other side, opposite the VR lab is the Med and Cryo rooms. Now this Med program we've got in there is top-notch, really. Take care of every basic thing and some of the advanced. Plus it's got a pretty sweet lil' drug synth, so you don't worry about stocking things."  
  
Finally, they got to the two largest doors, which were at the front of the ship. "The bridge," said Fred, walking through briskly as the doors open with a soft whoosh. While the rest of the main deck was designed for comfort, all the qualities of a home, the bridge was indeed "all business." Alex drew in an awestruck breath before she could stop herself. The sleek consoles were beautiful, in their own way, showcasing technologies Alex had no idea even existed. She had never been on the bridge of a ship. The few times she had actually been on a ship she had been ushered to her seat or section like nothing more than cattle. But this-this was amazing. If there was any indication that she was definitely not living in the past, this was it. Mankind had conquered space travel, and now it would be her, in her own ship, experiencing it.  
  
Riddick watched Alex carefully behind his glasses. He could tell, even though she was trying to control it, that this ship had made quite an impression. Truth be told, it was a far better ship than he thought they would have had access to. This Josef fellow must have higher contacts than expected. It made Riddick suspicious. Why would these two men go out of their way, bend over backwards, to help Alex? She was just an employee, a bartender. What made her so special?  
  
'She got you go to on this wild goose chase, just for a stinking kid, didn't she?' the thought came into Riddick's mind. But it wasn't just her. It was Jack. That thought was sobering. Never before had there been anyone who put such a wholehearted trust in him, had idolized him, like Jack had. It was a child's trust, but it was trust. Something he had not felt for a long time. In the slam and on the streets, you didn't trust people farther than you could see them, and mostly not even them. It was a minute-to-minute agreement that the other would not try to kill you-or you would kill them first. But with Jack, and even to some extent with Alex, the trust was there. She had trusted him to haggle out the details for the ship that she would be buying, no questions asked. Perhaps she didn't' realize how naïve that was-but then again, perhaps it was this strange beast, trust, that she had in him.  
  
The ship was certainly of the highest quality for privately manufactured or modified ships. And Towa had certainly known his stuff, especially for the owner of a company such as this. Riddick had expected to be shipped off to a greasy salesperson or have to talk to a mechanic in order to get what he wanted, but this operation was knowledgeable and well put-together. And, judging from what Towa had said, a great deal of it tried to go under the radar of the United Coalition. This ship certainly did. It had been a long time since he had seen such top-notch technology and quality on anything other than a Coalition ship. His brief stint in the UC troops, or the UC Involuntaries as some liked to call them, flight school had given him the knowledge to pilot just about anything, and a passable ability at navigation. But that chapter of his life had closed with a dishonorable discharge before he had even been sent out on active duty, only two years after he had been admitted at the age of thirteen. His intelligence and aptitude for technology had gotten him raised above most of the other "streets" and into the ranks of wealthier sons and daughters. But that same intelligence had made him unwilling to play the subservient little games of that grouping, and an attitude hardened by life without any support made him solitary and mean. He had stepped on too many toes and crossed too many lines to stay around for long. He was packed off to the streets from which he came. And then things got interesting.  
  
"I've gotta tell you, it's pretty standard setup," Towa's voice broke through Riddick's brief reverie. "For even a basic pilot, it's easy enough to handle. But with enough mods and new tech to sweeten the deal. Worked on it myself," he said, smiling with pleasure. "Show ya the rest now."  
  
They got a tour of the rest of the ship in short order. Impressive, compact but a spacious-seeming setup. An interesting contact, Towa was. So he had worked on this ship himself? And he was willing to sell it at a discounted price to an employee of a friend? What was with these people? They were just too nice. It put Riddick off-guard, yet he could see nothing to justify his suspicions. He couldn't remember the last time someone had been uncommonly kind without wanting something in return. At least, before he had come across the passengers of the Hunter-Gratzner. For some reason, their dire circumstances made them band together, and some forgot, if only for moments at a time, what he was.  
  
A thought floated into his consciousness from some deep corner. 'What are you?' Riddick himself was redefining it every hour, ever since one woman had given her life while saving him. Blood debt, in some sense. She gave her life to try and help him live when she came back for him. That had helped crack the hardness which named him animal and killer. Then another woman actually dragged him into the livesaving skiff, instead of herself alone. So now he found himself trying to repay it, had warned them when Jack was in trouble, and now was mired in it. Was it only for the chance to fly a ship and a paltry twenty thousand, and the guilt he felt now that Jack was gone? Or was it truly a desire to "rejoin the human race"? As he had done since he could remember, every detail was filed away, from what he had found of Jack to what he tried to uncover in himself. As he sat staring at the consoles before him, Alex and Towa had moved through the doors towards the med lab.  
  
Alex could not read the expression on Riddick's face as he looked over the consoles. It had melted from cold and calculating to pensive and confused. He noticed that she and Fred had moved off the bridge and smoothed his features again into impassivity, following them through the door. What have you done, girl? she asked herself. But now was not the time to contemplate the repercussions of her actions. All that existed now was the goal: to get Jack out of what seemed to be her own private hell.  
  
Inside the sterile, metallic medlab, and in the rest of the ship, was the miraculous synthesizer. Drugs in the lab, food and clothing in the mess. One of the most remarkable advances, it could make just about anything, provided it had the correct base materials.  
  
Fred noticed her examining them, and reported that the extra stock for them was in the cargo holds. Then he took them up the smaller, spiral stairway to the hydroponics bay. As they ascended to the highest point of the ship, the door slid open, wafting a familiar, earthy smell to the three of them. Alex breathed deep, the scent triggering memories of gardens and forests of Earth. A small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Pleasanter days, she thought as they walked through the door to reveal a surprisingly high- ceilinged, domed room lush with all sorts of vegetation. Everywhere she looked it was green. The floor under their feet was sentimentally carpeted with a central walkway, and grass. Real grass. The surroundings were clearly divided into vegetables, fruits, and flowering plants. Vines came down from those plants climbing the walls and part of the ceiling, and it was all lit by artificial sunshine from the ceiling, made to look like the bluest sky. It was beautiful.  
  
"Of course," Fred was explaining, "this doesn't supply all the oxygen to the ship, not by far, but it helps recycle the carbon dioxide and makes the ship recycling system more efficient. Never hurts to have some reminders of home, either." He smiled at it all. "And this is the only part, other than the autopilot AI functions of the bridge, with robotic support for pollination and tending, so it can literally go untouched for weeks and will not fail."  
  
He shooed them out before him, muttering about the grav system in the second half of the upper level, then walked down the stairs to the main mess. "Well?" he said, questioning but with a twinkle in his eye. He knew that the ship was almost too good to be true.  
  
Alex was so tempted to say "It's gorgeous, I'll take it!" but brought herself up short. Not the best way to start haggling, and not the best thing to say in front of either. Don't let them know you love it. Besides, if it's too expensive, she couldn't have it. It's just a ship, after all.  
  
"Impressive," said Riddick, breaking into her thoughts. To Alex's surprise, he actually sounded like he meant it.  
  
"Yah, it is at that," Fred replied proudly, gazing at it one last time. "Now down to the price, as I'm sure you're wonderin'. Thing is, these aren't even on the market for my regular customers, and are usually special- ordered with more mods. But," he trailed off, looking at the two of them consideringly, "seeing as how Josef tells me to take care of ya, and you both look hungry for the look of the place, I'll let you have it for.fifty thou."  
  
Silence met Fred's remark. Alex was shocked. Fifty thousand was much less than she thought she would have to stretch her finances. She was sure that it would be at least eighty. The ship was beautiful. Fifty thousand had to be a joke-but Fred gave no indication that it was.  
  
She looked at Riddick, a questioning eyebrow raised slightly. 'Please, tell me that the specs are okay,' she thought at him, hoping he got her drift, and cursing at the same time that she didn't know this area and had to depend on him. A small nod confirmed that they were. He had known exactly what she meant, and also knew exactly that the price Fred had quoted them was a gift, not a purchase.  
  
"Done," Alex said, smiling back at Fred as she extended a hand to him.  
  
Fred gave her a cheeky smile as he shook her hand. "I knew you were in love with it, m'dear. I like you, and your partner, so I'll give it to yeh fully stocked for deep space." He shook his head, his expression dark for a moment. "UC bastards won't know about it if you take off from my landing strip here, so I'll let you in for that." Smiling again, he turned to go down the ramp again.  
  
This is mine, Alex thought, giving one last look around.  
  
"Hey Fred!" she called.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What's it named?"  
  
"The Anubis"  
  
The next hour passed as if in a blur. Alex was sure it was nervous energy, and only that, which kept her going. They returned to Fred's office and Alex paid him, using the chip from her armband which surprised both Fred and Riddick. Then for the next half an hour, she and Riddick were bade to have a seat in the private waiting room while the ship was prepared, pushed to the front of the list for takeoff. Riddick spent that time wordlessly tapping the keys of the minimum security net station in the corner, as Alex merely sat staring at the sea green walls trying to make a plan to actually get into the Tumioni compound. A stealthy "sneak in and disable the guards" wouldn't work, Alex was sure of it. These people couldn't be stupid if they were the most powerful shipping family out there. But the most powerful also had weaknesses. Most loved to savor their success, especially by showing off to those underneath them. They also enjoyed the petty, political games their underlings played with each other, jockeying for power. They enjoyed it when it was right under their noses. It occurred to Alex, wouldn't the most powerful family in the United Coalition hold a few social gatherings, to watch others pander to them and exhibit their wealth? And what better place to do that than in their own compound? It was a perfect opportunity for one of them to get in with that crowd, instead of attempting covert activities.  
  
Alex glanced over at Riddick, who outwardly seemed dispassionate but the set of his shoulders told her he was intent on his work at the moment. And she did need him to do work of that nature, as she couldn't do it herself. She decided to leave him alone for a time, and attempt to find her opening in the Tumioni social armor once they were on the ship and under better security.  
  
The doors to the waiting room whooshed open, and a young man with black hair and blue eyes walked in. One of the salesmen she had seen on the floor. Both Alex and Riddick had turned their heads to look at him, and after a moment of confusion, he put on a wide, almost flirtatious smile and sauntered over to Alex.  
  
"Miss Bennet? The Anubis is ready for departure. Mr. Towa sends his regards and regrets that business renders him unable to accompany you. He did, however, say that I will be showing you personally to the transport module and to the ship itself." At this, he extended a hand to help her get up, smiling confidently.  
  
Alex could have laughed out loud. Usually she would have come back with a snappish comment, but the recent purchase had put her into an excited, giddy mood. The man couldn't have been more than twenty-two, and he was attractive, but certainly the type who knew he was. And holding out a hand for her? She smiled slightly to have some release, rather than laugh in his face. Then she stood on her own and nodded at him, amused at his disappointed expression. Some part of her was remotely intrigued, that he was-flirting with her. It was only the rollercoaster of moods she had been in, and the recent warmth she had felt from Josef, Ty, and Fred Towa today, that prevented her from being utterly cold to him. It had been years since she had allowed a look like that from a man to touch her in any way but annoyance.  
  
"Lead the way," she said. The man started to go towards the door.  
  
A creaking of a chair announced that Riddick, too, had risen. "Ladies first," he rumbled in an amused tone. A flash of irritation for that old, chivalrous fascination which had lasted so many years, was replaced by the realization that it was the young man who was brought up, startled, as he went through the door. Alex had to bite her lip to stop from laughing, and then tilted her head at the boy, raising her eyebrows with an innocent smile.  
  
"Ahem, yes," he muttered, looking flustered once his eyes had taken in what she assumed was the considerable muscle of Riddick standing behind her. In that phrase from Riddick, the young man's confident expression had dropped and he strode nervously ahead of them, leading them eventually to a small skimmer transport. The skimmer took them to the city limits, where many private airfields were located. The boy led them to the docking area of the ship, where he thrust a packet of papers into Alex's arms and opened up the ramp for them.  
  
"Mr. Towa said that you only need program the voice identification once, and that can be done from the bridge. You have clearance for takeoff with his personal tower at your leisure, as there are no other takeoffs from this strip today. He also stated that your pilot," at this he glanced between the two of them, "was well-versed enough to plot a course out of the Moltai traffic. As you see, here we are fairly isolated. The station tower is aware of your takeoff but not of your destination."  
  
At this abbreviated statement, he turned on his heel and walked quickly back to the transport, leaving Alex and Riddick alone facing the Anubis. Alex shouldered her bag, still not believing that this beautiful ship was now hers, and after a moment's hesitation, walked onto the ship. They still had to get to Jack.  
  
"Lights!" she called, following Fred's example from before. She strode quickly to the stairs, hearing Riddick's heavy tread behind her. For once, Alex didn't care about who was going first or last. It was her ship and damned if she wasn't going to be the first one to get to the bridge. Going up the stairs, she immediately went into the bridge. All of the terminals had power on. She went to the largest one and sat down in the black synthleather chair, pressing the screen where it said "Touch to begin."  
  
A female voice came across the speakers. "Welcome to the Anubis. Please identify yourself." 


End file.
